Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1. Agriculture ° Competition rules ° Provisions of the Treaty relating to aid granted by States ° Applicability in the wine sector ° Consequence ° Power of the Council to authorize aid by derogation in view of exceptional circumstances

(EC Treaty, Art. 42 and Arts 92 to 94; Council Regulation No 822/87, Art. 76)

2. Agriculture ° Competition rules ° Aid ° Authorization of aid by derogation by the Council ° Judicial review ° Limits ° Decision authorizing special aid for the distillation of certain wines in Italy and France in the 1993/94 wine year ° No manifest error of assessment

(EC Treaty, Arts 39 and 93(2), third subpara.)

3. Acts of the institutions ° Statement of reasons ° Obligation ° Scope

(EC Treaty, Art. 190)

Summary

1. Since, under Article 42 of the Treaty, the Council has, by Article 76 of Regulation No 822/87, made Articles 92, 93 and 94 of the Treaty relating to State aid applicable to production of, and trade in, wines, it may apply, in the wine sector, the power granted to it by the third subparagraph of Article 93(2) of the Treaty to decide, where exceptional circumstances so justify, that State aid must be regarded as compatible with the common market in derogation from the provisions of Article 92 or regulations provided for by Article 94.

2. When implementation by the Council of the common agricultural policy necessitates evaluation of a complex economic situation, the discretion which it has does not apply exclusively to the nature and scope of the measures to be taken but also to some extent to the finding of the basic facts, inasmuch as, in particular, it is open to the Council to rely if necessary on general findings. This is precisely the case where the Council is required to determine whether it must be decided, under the power conferred on it by the third subparagraph of Article 93(2) of the Treaty, that exceptional circumstances justify an aid being considered compatible with the common market, in derogation from Article 92 of the Treaty.

In reviewing the exercise of such a power the Court must confine itself to examining whether there has been any manifest error of assessment of the basic facts or a misuse of power or whether the Council has clearly exceeded the bounds of its discretion with regard to the measures to be adopted.

When applied to the Council' s decision authorizing special national aid for the distillation of certain wine produced during the 1993/94 wine year in France and Italy, that review did not reveal any manifest error of assessment in the Council' s concluding that particular attention had to be given to the aim of guaranteeing wine producers a fair income, that there was no risk of a real and lasting disturbance of the common organization of the wine market and that the aid was, by derogation, compatible with the common market to the extent and for the period strictly necessary for restoring the situation of imbalance found to exist.

3. Although the reasoning required by Article 190 of the Treaty must show clearly and unequivocally the reasoning of the Community authority which adopted the contested measure so as to enable the persons concerned to ascertain the reasons for the measure and to enable the Court to exercise its review, it is not required to go into every relevant point of fact and law. The question whether a statement of reasons satisfies those requirements must be assessed with reference not only to its wording but also to its context and the whole body of legal rules governing the matter in question. Consequently, if the contested measure clearly discloses the essential objective pursued by the institution, it would be excessive to require a specific statement of reasons for each of the technical choices made by the institution.