Luxembourg, 20/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Court of Justice, ruling in a small plenary session (eleven judges), rejected the appeal by Germany, unhappy because the European Commission would not accept its list of regions beneficiaries of Community aid. Germany went about it in the wrong way, the judges observed. It should have proposed its list to the Commission and had it come up against a rejection it could have disputed that before the European judges. Which it did not do.
Germany had, unsuccessfully, asked in this case for the annulment of the Commission's decision of March 2002. In that decision, the Commission only authorised regional aid to the extent that it related to regions corresponding to 17.73% of the German population. Germany wanted that percentage to be 23.4, which would have lengthened the list of German regions beneficiaries of this aid.
Initially, Germany preferred to accept the list of regions at 17.7% while reserving itself the right to come back on the offensive and present its 23.4% list. The German Government wanted thus to secure the Commission's authorisation so as to begin granting aid to the regions meeting the 17.7% criterion while hoping to later secure the possibility of granting aid to more populated regions.
Poor calculation, the Court concluded, as, legally, the Commission has never had to decide on Germany's request of being able to grant aid to regions representing 23.4%. It only attacked the list of 17.7% regions on which, for tactical reasons, it had agreed.