CELEX: C2004/179/06
Language: en
Date: 2004-07-10 00:00:00
Title: Case C-189/04: Action brought on 22 April 2004 by the Hellenic Republic against the Commission of the European Communities

10.7.2004   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 179/3
            
         Action brought on 22 April 2004 by the Hellenic Republic against the Commission of the European Communities
   (Case C-189/04)
   (2004/C 179/06)
   An action against the Commission of the European Communities was brought on 22 April 2004 before the Court of Justice of the European Communities by the Hellenic Republic, represented by Panayiotis Milonopoulos, legal adviser of the Community law section of the special legal service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and by Vasilios Kiriazopoulos, of the State legal service, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the Greek Embassy, 27 Rue Marie-Adelaide.
   The applicant claims that the Court should:
   
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               Declare void the offsetting by the Commission of the European Communities of the amount of EUR 565,656.80 (participation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the construction of a common European Union diplomatic representation in Abouja, Nigeria) included in the total amount of offset of EUR 1,653,298.54 from the amount made available to Greece in the context of the relevant support programme.
            
         
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               Order the Commission of the European Communities to pay the costs.
            
         Pleas and main arguments
   The Hellenic Republic maintains that the Commission did not pay due heed to the fact that the Additional memorandum of understanding was not ratified by Hellenic Republic and applies without the participation of the Hellenic Republic in the Abouja II project.
   Nor was sufficient credence paid by the defendant to the substantive acknowledgement by the Hellenic Republic of its debts arising out of its participation in the Abouja I project.
   In that connection the Hellenic Republic maintains that the Commission of the European Communities infringed the principles governing collection of amounts and the provision, clearance and confirmation of liabilities, as well as the principles governing collection by means of offsetting.
   In light of the foregoing the Hellenic Republic maintains that by issuing the offsetting notice the Commission infringed substantive provisions of law, that is to say, on the one hand, the provisions of Regulation No 3342/02 and, on the other, the provisions of Article 15 of the initial memorandum of understanding.