25.8.2007

Official Journal of the European Union

C 199/39

(Case T-214/07)

(2007/C 199/75)

Language of the case: Greek

Parties

Applicant: Hellenic Republic (represented by: I. Khalkias and G. Kanellopoulos)

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities

Form of order sought

—annulment of the contested decision in its entirety; in the alternative, amendment of the contested Commission decision as specified, namely: limitation of the relevant correction to the 24 months in fact considered; no correction in the sector of arable crops for the harvesting year 2003 or, in any event, that the correction be limited to only 2 % of the expenditure for durum wheat; that no financial correction be made in the sector of measures for the smaller Aegean islands concerning certain agricultural products or, in any event, that it be limited to 2 %.

—an order that the Commission of the European Communities pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

By this action against Commission Decision No E(2007) 1663 final of 18 April 2007, published as Commission Decision 2007/243/EC (OJ 2007 L 106, p. 55), on the basis of which the Commission excluded from Community financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States — in this case the Hellenic Republic — under the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), the Hellenic Republic puts forward the following grounds for annulment:

In the first general ground for annulment, concerning the correction to the arable crops sectors, to the POSEI measure and to the tomato processing sector, the applicant claims that the defendant was in breach of an essential procedural requirement with regard to the lack of discussion as to the assessment of the seriousness of the infringements ascribed to Greece, the damage suffered by the Community and the level of the correction imposed; in the alternative, the decision should be annulled, according to the applicant, because the Commission was not empowered ratio temporis to impose corrections beyond the 24 months preceding the date of the document in which it formulated its final position on the correction and the level of that correction.

In the second ground of annulment, concerning the correction in respect of arable crops, the applicant alleges misinterpretation and misapplication of Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 3508/95, Article 1(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1593/2000 and Article 58 of Regulation (EC) No 445/2002 since, on the basis of those provisions, it is also permissible to identify land by means of cartographic materials equivalent to orthophotomaps; in the alternative, the applicant alleges incorrect assessment of the factual circumstances and insufficient reasoning given for the disputed corrections. The applicant also alleges misinterpretation and misapplication of Article 60 of Regulation (EC) No 445/2002 or, in the alternative, incorrect assessment of the factual circumstances as regards the on-the-spot checks and the period over which they were carried out, as well as lack of any legal basis for imposing the correction, because the Commission misinterpreted, in the applicant's view, Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 2419/2001. The applicant also maintains that, in particular as concerns the correction of 10 % to durum wheat expenditure, the Commission wrongly assessed the factual circumstances and went beyond the limits of its discretion.

In its third ground of annulment, the applicant considers that, with the imposition of the corrections of 5 % and 10 % in respect of arable crops, the principle of proportionality has been infringed since, in relation to the previous year, the improvements to the system were significant, a fact that was, moreover, noted by the Commission.

In the fourth ground of annulment, which concerns the POSEI measure — Smaller Aegean Islands — the applicant submits (a) that Article 3(3) of Regulation (EEC) No 2019/93 and Article 3(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2958/93 were misinterpreted and misapplied in respect of the arrangements for the supply [of certain agricultural products] to the smaller Aegean islands or, in the alternative, that the factual circumstances were wrongly assessed, since the Greek authorities acted as prescribed by the regulations; (b) that, similarly, as regards potato fields and olive groves on the small islands of the Aegean, the factual circumstances were wrongly assessed, since the LPIS and the Registers functioned normally and, in any event, in respect of any minor defects, a general correction to the regime of arable crops was imposed on the applicant and a second penalty should not be imposed for the same reason in respect of the individual regimes and lastly (c) the correction to the POSEI measure was contrary to the principle of proportionality.

(1) Council Regulation (EEC) No 3508/92 of 27 November 1992 establishing an integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes (OJ 1992 L 355, p. 1).

(2) Council Regulation (EC) No 1593/2000 of 17 July 2000 amending Regulation (EEC) No 3508/92 establishing an integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes (OJ 2000 L 182, p. 4).

(3) Commission Regulation (EC) No 445/2002 of 26 February 2002 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) (OJ 2002 L 74, p. 1).

(4) Commission Regulation (EC) No 2419/2001 of 11 December 2001 laying down detailed rules for applying the integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes established by Council Regulation (EEC) No 3508/92 (OJ 2001 L 327, p. 11).

(5) Council Regulation (EEC) No 2019/93 of 19 July 1993 introducing specific measures for the smaller Aegean islands concerning certain agricultural products (OJ 1993 L 184, p. 1).

(6) Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2958/93 of 27 October 1993 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2019/93 as regards the specific arrangements for the supply of certain agricultural products (OJ 1993 L 267, p. 4).

(7) Land Parcel Identification System.