CELEX: C2001/212/49
Language: en
Date: 2001-07-28 00:00:00
Title: Case T-105/01: Action brought on 14 May 2001 by Società Lavori Impianti Metano Sicilia SpA (SLIM SICILIA) against the Commission of the European Communities

C 212/26               EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                      28.7.2001
Action brought on 14 May 2001 by Società Lavori                           —     breach of the principle of sound administration and of
Impianti Metano Sicilia SpA (SLIM SICILIA) against the                          the rights of the defence in so far as, in the present case,
         Commission of the European Communities                                 neither the Commission nor the Italian administrative
                                                                                authorities have seen fit to allow the applicant an
                                                                                opportunity effectively to express its point of view; failure
                        (Case T-105/01)                                         also to respect the applicant’s rights of defence as regards
                                                                                access to documents;
                        (2001/C 212/49)
                                                                          —     Breach of the principle of sound administration, on
                                                                                account of the delay in adopting the contested decision;
                                                                                the applicant emphasises that the decision was taken
                   (Language of the case: Italian)                              more than six years after the application for an extension
                                                                                and four years after Community financial aid was paid
                                                                                (end of December 1996/January 1997) in an amount
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-                       which implied that the request for an extension had been
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the                      granted. On the basis of that last factor, the applicant
European Communities on 14 May 2001 by Società Lavori                           argues that the principle of the protection of legitimate
Impianti Metano Sicilia SpA (SLIM SICILIA), represented by                      expectations has been contravened also;
Nazareno Saitta, Fabio Saitta, Mario Siragusa, Francesca Maria
Moretti and Cesare Lanciani, lawyers, against the Commission              —     Infringement of Article 12 of Regulation No 4258/88 in
of the European Communities.                                                    that the contested decision — bearing in mind that it has
                                                                                not been demonstrated in the present case that work on
                                                                                the project had been suspended for reasons relating to
The applicant claims that the Court should:                                     judicial proceedings — refuses to apply that provision to
                                                                                a situation the facts of which have been misunderstood
—     annul the contested decision in so far as it concerns the                 and/or misinterprets that provision in deeming the situ-
      applicant;                                                                ation to fall outside its scope.
—     in the alternative, annul the contested decision in so far
      as it states that the applicant’s ‘declared expenditure’
      before      31      March       1995         amounted       to
      ITL 23 930 772 264 instead of ITL 24 110 190 502 or                 (1) OJ L 193 of 31.7.1993, p. 34.
      more;
—     order the Commission to pay costs and fees.
Pleas in law and main arguments
The applicant contests Decision D(2000)810575 of
12 December 2000 by which the Commission reduced the                      Action brought on 25 May 2001 by P&O European
Community funding initially granted in respect of the project             Ferries (Vizcaya) S.A. against the Commission of the
for the methanation of the city of Syracuse from ITL 11 billion                                European Communities
to ITL 9 572 308 905, that is to say, by ITL 1 427 691 095.
In so deciding, the Commission rejected the application for an
extension submitted by the Ministero del Bilancio e della                                          (Case T-116/01)
Programmazione Economica (Ministry of Economic Budgeting
and Planning) on the basis of an interpretation — which the
applicant does not accept — of Article 12 of Regulation                                            (2001/C 212/50)
(EEC) No 4254/88 laying down provisions for implementing
Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88 as regards the European
Regional Development Fund, as amended by Regulation (EEC)
No 2083/93 (1), and regarded as irrelevant the statements of                                 (Language of the case: English)
expenditure communicated after 31 March 1995.
                                                                          An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
The applicant has carried out and managed the project under               ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
licence for the Comune of Syracuse and has received the                   European Communities on 25 May 2001 by P&O European
Community funding affected by the contested decision. In                  Ferries (Vizcaya) S.A., a company incorporated under the laws
support of its claims, the applicant argues:                              of Spain, represented by Jeremy Lever QC and Daniel Beard,
                                                                          Barristers, Jaime Folguera Crespo and Julian Ellison, Solicitor,
—     breach of the obligation to state reasons;                          of Ashurst Morris Crisp, Brussels (Belgium).