CELEX: C1997/166/43
Language: en
Date: 1997-05-31 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 1 April 1997 by the Region of Tuscany against the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-81/97)

31 . 5 . 97             EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No C 166/21
The applicant claims that the Court should :                           The corresponding request for payment in full was made
                                                                       by letter of 31 March 1995 from the Assessore Regionale
— annul the Commission's decision of 18 June 1996                      all'Agricoltura, which was never answered by the
     rejecting the applicant's request that it give                    Commission. Consequently, in November 1996, since the
     consideration to the possible application of Article 31           applicant region had not received the payment requested,
     ( 2 ) of the Staff Regulations,                                   it sent a request for payment to the Commission , which
                                                                       stated in response that, as the request for payment in full
— annul, in so far as may be necessary, the decision                   in respect of the project in question should have reached it
     adopted by the Commission on 27 December 1996                     by 31 March 1995 , whereas it had only arrived four days
     expressly rejecting the applicant's complaint,                    later, the Community assistance had to be withdrawn
                                                                       pursuant to Article 10 of Regulation ( EEC ) No 4256/
— order the defendant to pay all the costs.                            88 (').
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                    The applicant claims in the first place that Article 10 of
                                                                       Regulation ( EEC ) No 4256/88 has been infringed in so far
The pleas in law and main arguments are the same as in                 as that provision does not provide that requests for
Case T- 16/97 ( M.                                                     payment must be received by the Commission by
                                                                       31 March, but only that they must have been 'the subject
H OJ No C 74, 8 . 3 . 1997, p. 27.                                     of a request for final payment by 31 March 1995 '.
                                                                       Consequently, the letter from the Region of Tuscany
                                                                       correctly complies with the provision of the Regulation in
                                                                       question, which lays down the deadline for sending the
                                                                       request and not for its receipt.
Action brought on 1 April 1997 by the Region of Tuscany                The application also claims that there has been a failure to
  against the Commission of the European Communities                   comply with the principle of proportionality. In the
                          (Case T-81/97)                               applicant's view, even it is accepted that the region did not
                           ( 97/C 166/43 )                             correctly comply with the provision — which it denies —,
                                                                       the economic burden is excessive by comparison with the
                  (Language of the case: Italian)                      aim pursued, that is to say, the automatic sanction of
                                                                       forfeiture of the security laid down for a markedly less
An action against the Commission of the European                       serious infringement than failure to fulfil the principal
Communities was brought before the Court of First                      obligation which the security itself is intended to
Instance of the European Communities on 1 April 1997                   guarantee .
by the Region of Tuscany, Florence, represented by Vito
Vacchi and Lucia Bora, of the Florence Bar, with an                    Lastly, the applicant claims that there has been a further
address for service in Luxembourg at the Chambers of                   infringement of Community law in the shape of a breach
Paolo Benocci, 50 Rue de Vianden.                                      of the principle of protection of legitimate expectations . It
                                                                       points in this connection to the complete lack of reaction
The applicant claims that the Court should :                           on the part of the Commission between May 1995 and
                                                                       November 1996 . That lack of reaction created a legitimate
— annul memorandum VI/040551 of the European                           expectation in the region that it would receive the funding
     Commission — Directorate General for Agriculture —                already earmarked for the works in question, given that it
     of 21 November 1994,                                              had been established that the works had been properly
                                                                       completed .
— annul the act — never notified to the applicant region
     — by which the European Commission withdrew the                   (') Council Regulation ( EEC ) No 4256/88 of 19 December 1988
     Community assistance earmarked under the Integrated                   laying down provisions for implementing Regulation ( EEC )
     Mediterranean Programme (IMP) for project No                          No 2052/88 as regards the EAGGF Guidance Section ( OJ No
     88.20 .IT.006.0 (works for the supply of potable water                L 374 , 1988 , p. 25 ), as amended by Regulation ( EEC )
                                                                           No 2085/93 of 20 July 1993 ( OJ No L 193 , 1993 , p. 44 ).
     in Tuscany ),
— annul the European Commission 's memorandum of
     31 January 1997, received by the applicant on
     7 February 1997, by which the Commission informed
     it that the assistance had been withdrawn .
                                                                       Action brought on 28 March 1997 by Patrick Rousseaux
                                                                          against the Commission of the European Communities
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
                                                                                                ( Case T-82/97)
In this case the Region of Tuscany challenges the                                                 ( 97/C 166/44 )
defendant's act withdrawing the financial assistance
earmarked         under      the   Integrated    Mediterranean                        (Language of the case: French)
Programme ( IMP ) for a project for the supply of potable
water in Tuscany amounting in total to approximately                   An action against the Commission of the European
ECU 900 000 .                                                          Communities was brought before the Court of First