CELEX: C2001/303/21
Language: en
Date: 2001-10-27 00:00:00
Title: Case C-331/01: Action brought on 6 September 2001 by Kingdom of Spain against Commission of the European Communities

27.10.2001            EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                           C 303/13
Pleas in law and main arguments                                                1995, which, in its view, is not in compliance with the
                                                                               applicable legislation inasmuch as it became possible to
                                                                               make payments to recipients who in 1996 would have
Infringement of Article 24 of Regulation No 4253/88, in                        not been entitled to such additional payments. The
particular of the procedure laid down therein so far as concerns               Kingdom of Spain does not share that view. The need to
the request that the Member State concerned submit its                         supplement payments before 15 October 1996 prompted
comments within a specified period of time prior to the                        the Kingdom of Spain to make use of the derogation
adoption of by the Commission of a decision to reduce,                         provided for by Article 5 of Regulation No 1357/96, to
suspend or cancel assistance. When applying that provision,                    which end, appropriate objective criteria were laid down
the Court of First Instance not only failed to be faithful to its              in the aforementioned Ministerial Order. Thus, when
letter and spirit, which is based on the close cooperation                     granting the additional assistance provided for in Regu-
between Commission and Member State in the management                          lation No 1357/96, the Kingdom of Spain resorted to
and assessment of assistance granted, it also completely                       the derogation provided for in Article 5, so that the
ignored Community case-law which has considered para-                          requirements set down in Articles 1 and 2 did not apply.
mount the views of Member States in similar circumstances.                     In particular, that exonerated it from the obligation of
                                                                               carrying out the adjustments provided for in Article 1(3).
                                                                               That means that, contrary to the arguments of the
                                                                               Commission, there are no grounds for recovery of
                                                                               amounts paid to beneficiaries in 1996, given that Article 5
                                                                               provides that application of that article precludes that of
                                                                               Articles 1 to 4.
                                                                        —      Failure of the Commission to observe the time limits
Action brought on 6 September 2001 by Kingdom of                               regarding notification prescribed by the applicable Com-
Spain against Commission of the European Communities                           munity provisions: The expenditure which is the subject
                                                                               of the financial adjustment contested in the present action
                        (Case C-331/01)                                        was incurred by the Kingdom of Spain prior to the
                                                                               24 months provided for by Article 7(4) of Council
                                                                               Regulation 1258/99 (5) which preceded the communi-
                        (2001/C 303/21)                                        cation in writing by the Commission to the Member State
                                                                               concerned of the results of such inquiries.
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
                                                                        (1) OJ 2001 L 200, p. 28.
ties was brought before the Court of Justice of the European
                                                                        (2) at issue is an adjustment amounting to ESP 185 046 088 referring
Communities on 6 September 2001 by the Kingdom of Spain,                    to additional payments to beef producers as a result of the bovine
represented by Mónica López-Monı́s Gallego, Abogado del                   spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) crisis.
Estado, acting as Agent, with an address for service in                 (3) Council Regulation (EC) No 1357/96 of 8 July 1996 providing
Luxembourg.                                                                 for additional payments to be made in 1996 with the premiums
                                                                            referred to in Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 on the common
                                                                            organization of the market in beef and veal and amending that
The applicant claims that the Court should:                                 Regulation. OJ L 175, 13.7.1996, p. 9.
                                                                        (4) BOE (Boletin del Estado) 228 of 20 September 1996 of the
                                                                            Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación.
—     annul the decision of the Commission of 11 July 2001 (1)          (5) Council Regulation (EC) No 1258/1999 of 17 May 1999 on the
      excluding from Community financing certain expenditure                financing of the common agricultural policy (OJ 1999 L 160,
      incurred by the Member States under the Guarantee                     p. 103).
      Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and
      Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) so far as concerns the financial
      adjustments imposed on the Kingdom of Spain and
      challenged in the present application (2);
—     order the defendant institution to pay the costs.
                                                                        Action brought on 7 September 2001 by the Commission
                                                                        of the European Communities against the Council of the
                                                                                                  European Union
Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                                                   (Case C-338/01)
—     Compliance with applicable Community legislation on                                          (2001/C 303/22)
      the granting of additional assistance: In the Commissions
      view, additional BSE payments in the Kingdom of Spain
      in 1996 under Council Regulation No 1357/96 (3), made             An action against the Council of the European Union was
      in accordance with the Ministerial Order of 19 September          brought before the Court of Justice of the European Communi-
      1996 (4), were based on the applications submitted in             ties on 7 September 2001 by the Commission of the European