15.8.2009   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 193/23


Action brought on 14 May 2009 — Hellenic Republic v Commission

(Case T-184/09)

2009/C 193/37

Language of the case: Greek

Parties

Applicant: Hellenic Republic (represented by: V. Kontolaimos, E. Leftheriotou, V. Karra)

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities

Form of order sought

grant the application and annul the contested decision or, in the alternative, alter it so that the financial correction is reduced to 5 % or, in the alternative, the correction of 10 % is applied only to the amount which corresponds to the sugar imported by E.V.Z.;

order the Commission to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In its application for annulment of the Commission decision of 19 March 2009 excluding from Community financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), which was notified under document number C(2009) 1945 and published under No 2099/253/EC (OJ 2009 L 75, p. 15) and which concerns the imposition of corrections in respect of export refunds and the common organisation of the market in sugar, because of a lack of controls, the Hellenic Republic puts forward the following pleas for annulment.

By the first plea for annulment, the Hellenic Republic submits that the procedure for clearance of the accounts was invalid because of breach of a substantial procedural requirement that is laid down by Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1663/95, (1) relating to the failure to engage in bilateral discussion, so far as concerns the imposition of a correction for refunds in respect of sugar in non-Annex I products.

By the second plea for annulment, the Hellenic Republic alleges misappraisal of the facts, an insufficient statement of reasons and that the limits of the Commission’s discretion were exceeded, as regards the assessment of risk for the Fund.

By the third plea for annulment, it alleges breach of the principle of proportionality.


(1)  Commission Regulation (EC) No 1663/95 of 7 July 1995 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 regarding the procedure for the clearance of the accounts of the EAGGF Guarantee Section (OJ 1995 L 158, p. 6).