European Commission v Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Date: 2012-04-26
33. It should be noted at the outset that, in the context of an action for failure to fulfil obligations, the purpose of the pre-litigation procedure is to give the Member State concerned an opportunity, on the one hand, to comply with its obligations under EU law and, on the other, to avail itself of its right to defend itself properly against the objections formulated by the Commission (see Case C‑340/02 Commission  v France  [2004] ECR I‑9845, paragraph 25)
34. The subject-matter of proceedings under Article 258 TFEU is therefore delimited by the pre-litigation procedure prescribed by that provision. The proper conduct of that procedure constitutes an essential guarantee required by the FEU Treaty not only in order to protect the rights of the Member State concerned, but also in order to ensure that any contentious procedure will have a clearly defined dispute as its subject‑matter (see Case C‑1/00 Commission  v France  [2001] ECR I‑9989, paragraph 53, and Case C‑160/08 Commission  v Germany  [2010] ECR I‑3713, paragraph 42).
35. By virtue of the first paragraph of Article 21 of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union and Article 38(1)(c) of its Rules of Procedure, the Commission must, in any application made under Article 258 TFEU, indicate the specific complaints on which the Court is asked to rule and, at the very least in summary form, the legal and factual particulars on which those complaints are based (see, to that effect, Case C‑347/88 Commission  v Greece  [1990] ECR I‑4747, paragraph 28; Case C‑456/03 Commission  v Italy  [2005] ECR I‑5335, paragraph 23).
36. It follows that the Commission’s action must contain a coherent and detailed statement of the reasons which have led it to conclude that the Member State in question has failed to fulfil one of its obligations under the treaties.
39. However, the Court has already held that, if the Commission claims that national legislation is contrary to the system, scheme or spirit of a directive, without relating the resultant breach of EU law to any specific provisions of that directive, its application cannot, on that ground alone, be held to be inadmissible (see Commission  v Italy , paragraph 23).
64. It is thus undisputed, also by the Commission, that Member States may make the issue of the residence permits pursuant to Directive 2003/109 subject to the payment of charges and that, in fixing the amount of those charges, they enjoy a margin of discretion.
65. However, the discretion granted to Member States by Directive 2003/109 in that respect is not unlimited. They may not apply national rules which are liable to jeopardise the achievement of the objectives pursued by a directive and, therefore, deprive it of its effectiveness (see, to that effect, Case C‑61/11 PPU El Dridi  [2011] ECR I‑3015, paragraph 55).
66. As is apparent from recitals 4, 6 and 12 to Directive 2003/109, the principal purpose of that directive is the integration of third-country nationals who are settled on a long-term basis in the Member States. The right of residence of long-term residents and members of their family in another Member State, provided for by Chapter III of that directive, also aims to contribute to the effective attainment of an internal market as an area in which the free movement of persons is ensured, as is apparent from recital 18 to that directive.
68. Having regard to the objective pursued by Directive 2003/109 and the system which it puts in place, it should be noted that, where the third-country nationals satisfy the conditions and comply with the procedures laid down in that directive, they have the right to obtain long-term resident status as well as the other rights which stem from the grant of that status.
69. Therefore, while it is open to the Kingdom of the Netherlands to make the issue of residence permits under Directive 2003/109 subject to the levying of charges, the level at which those charges are set must not have either the object or the effect of creating an obstacle to the obtaining of the long-term resident status conferred by that directive, otherwise both the objective and the spirit of that directive would be undermined.
74. It should also be observed that, as noted in paragraph 65 of the present judgment, the discretion enjoyed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in setting the amount of the charges that may be levied on third-country nationals for the issue of residence permits under Chapters II and III of Directive 2003/109 is not unlimited and does not therefore permit the levying of charges which would be excessive in the light of their significant financial impact on those nationals.
75. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, which is one of the general principles of EU law, the measures taken by national legislation transposing Directive 2003/109 must be suitable for achieving the objectives of that legislation and must not go beyond what is necessary to attain them.