Hellenic Republic v Council of the European Union.
Date: 1994-07-14
19 As the Court has consistently held, the statement of reasons required by Article 190 of the Treaty must be appropriate to the nature of the measure in question. It must show clearly and unequivocally the reasoning of the institution which enacted the measure so as to inform the persons concerned of the justification for the measure adopted and to enable the Court to exercise its powers of review. It has also been held that the statement of the reasons for a measure is not required to specify the matters of fact or of law dealt with, provided that it falls within the general scheme of the body of measures of which it forms part (see the judgment in Joined Cases C-63 and C-67/90 Portugal and Spain v Council [1992] ECR I-5073, paragraph 16).
25 It must be borne in mind that the agricultural policy requires the adoption of common rules which may affect producers differently according to the individual orientation of their production or local conditions; but they may not be regarded as constituting discrimination prohibited by Article 40(3) of the Treaty if they are based on objective rules formulated to meet the needs of the general common organization (see in particular the judgment in Case 179/84 Bozzetti v Invernizzi [1985] ECR 2301, paragraph 34).
36 In that regard, the Court has consistently held that, in pursuing the objectives of the common agricultural policy, the Community institutions must secure the permanent harmonization made necessary by any conflicts between the various objectives set by Article 39 of the Treaty, taken individually, and, where necessary, allow any one of them temporary priority in order to satisfy the demands of the economic factors or conditions in view of which their decisions are made (see in particular the judgment in Case 203/86 Spain v Council [1988] ECR 4563, paragraph 10).
39 Those reductions are not such as to affect the legality of the basic regulation. The losses of income are offset by the compensatory payments for which small soya producers in Greece may qualify. Moreover, there is nothing in the documents before the Court to indicate that it is absolutely impossible for those producers to complete sowing by 15 May. Furthermore, it is common ground that the Greek authorities have not made any approach to the Community authorities to vary the date provided for in Article 10(2) of the basic regulation, as allowed under certain conditions by the seventh indent of the first paragraph of Article 12.
44 The Court has consistently held that, whilst the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations is one of the fundamental principles of the Community, traders cannot have a legitimate expectation that an existing situation which is capable of being altered by the Community institutions in the exercise of their discretionary power will be maintained (see the judgment in Joined Cases C-258 and C-259/90 Pesquerías de Bermeo y Naviera Laida v Commission [1992] ECR I-2901, paragraph 34). That is true in an area such as the common agricultural policy and the common organization of the markets whose purpose involves constant adjustments to meet changes in the economic situation (see the judgment in Case C-350/88 Delacre and Others v Commission [1990] ECR I-395, paragraph 33).
45 It follows that traders cannot claim a vested right to the maintenance of an advantage which they derive from the establishment of the common organization of the markets and which they enjoyed at a given time (see Case C-350/88 Delacre, cited above, paragraph 34).
50 It is sufficient to note in that regard that whilst the principle of Community preference may be taken into account by Community institutions as an element in the common agricultural policy, it nevertheless cannot affect their decision until all the economic factors influencing world trade have been evaluated. As the Advocate General rightly observes in paragraphs 78 to 82 of his Opinion, Community preference is not in any case a legal requirement the violation of which would result in the invalidity of the measure concerned.