Luigi Pontini and Others
Date: 2010-06-24
48. However, under Article 234 EC, which is based on a clear separation of functions between the national courts and the Court of Justice, the Court is empowered only to give rulings on the interpretation or the validity of a piece of Community legislation on the basis of the facts which the national court puts before it (see, to that effect, inter alia, Case C‑ 321/07 Schwarz  [2009] ECR I‑1113, paragraph 49).
49. It is thus for the national court to ascertain the facts which have given rise to the dispute and to establish the consequences which they have for the judgment which it is required to deliver (see, inter alia, Case C‑435/97 WWF and Others  [1999] ECR I‑5613, paragraph 32).
51. However, in the context of a request for a preliminary ruling, it is for the national court to elucidate the factual and legislative context of the dispute in the main proceedings (see order in Case C‑116/00 Laguillaumie  [2000] ECR I‑4979, paragraph 23). It is not for the Court to identify the provisions of national law relevant for the purposes of the dispute, to give a ruling on their interpretation or to decide whether the interpretation given by the national court of those provisions is correct (see, to that effect, Joined Cases C‑378/07 to C‑380/07 Angelidaki and Others  [2009] ECR I‑3071, paragraph 48).
58. It is settled case‑law that, in interpreting a provision of Community law, it is necessary to consider not only its wording, but also the context in which it occurs and the objectives pursued by the rules of which it is part (Case C‑34/05 Schouten  [2007] ECR I‑1687, paragraph 25, and Case C‑45/05 Maatschap Schonewille‑Prins  [2007] ECR I‑3997, paragraph 30).
67. Next, as regards the objectives pursued by Regulation No 1254/1999, it is apparent from recitals 4 and 13 in the preamble thereto that one of those objectives is to halt the trend towards intensification of beef and veal production, whereby producers carry ever‑increasing numbers of bovine animals on their holdings and, as the area covered by the holding does not expand, it becomes insufficient to feed the animals ( Schouten , paragraph 28).
74. The IACS has the objective, in accordance with the seventh and ninth recitals in the preamble to Regulation No 3887/92, of monitoring effectively compliance with the provisions on Community aid and of adopting provisions which prevent and penalise irregularities and fraud effectively (see, to that effect, Case C‑354/95 National Farmers’ Union and Others  [1997] ECR I‑4559, paragraph 51; Case C‑63/00 Schilling and Nehring  [2002] ECR I‑4483, paragraph 25; and Case C‑295/02 Gerken  [2004] ECR I‑6369, paragraph 41).
87. As the Court has held, the principle of proportionality, in accordance with which measures implemented through provisions must be appropriate for attaining the objective pursued and must not go beyond what is necessary to achieve it, must be complied with both by the Community legislature and by the national legislative authorities and the national courts which apply Community law (see, to that effect, Joined Cases C‑37/06 and C‑58/06 Viamex Agrar Handel and ZVK  [2008] ECR I‑69, paragraph 33). In consequence, that principle must be complied with by the competent national authorities in relation to the provisions of Regulation No 1254/1999 and those concerning the IACS.