14.9.2015   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 302/21

1.

Must Articles 43 and 44 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 (1) of 29 September 2003 be interpreted as precluding national legislation which excludes from treatment as eligible hectares all areas of permanent pasture declared by a farmer in excess of those which were taken into account at the relevant time for the purpose of determining the normal entitlements due to that farmer, making the inclusion of those areas, and therefore the replacement of arable land with pasture, conditional on the pasture being genuinely given over to the rearing of livestock in the specific financial year in respect of which the farmer seeks to activate the payment entitlements?

And, should that question be answered in the negative,

2.

Must Article 29 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 of 29 September 2003, in so far as it excludes payments under support schemes for beneficiaries of such schemes ‘where it is established that they artificially created the conditions required for obtaining such payments with a view to obtaining an advantage contrary to the objectives of that support scheme’, be interpreted as not permitting States to adopt general measures which reduce the number of ‘eligible hectares’ (of permanent pasture) by laying down general situations in which the beneficiary will be presumed to have artificially created the conditions required for obtaining payment without establishing, specifically and in relation to a particular farmer, the activity carried on by that farmer and his conduct?