11.9.2004   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 228/30

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annul Chapter 10a of Title IV of Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, inserted by Article 1(20) of Council Regulation (EC) No 864/2004 amending Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers, and adapting it by reason of the accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia to the European Union (1);

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order the Council of the European Union to pay the costs.

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Infringement of the Treaty or of rules relating to its implementation in that the Council has contravened Article 3 of Protocol No 4 to the Act of Accession of the Hellenic Republic to the European Communities, since the new Article 110b of Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 of 29 September 2003, inserted by Regulation No 864/2004, does not provide for production aid for cotton.

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Breach of an essential procedural requirement in that the Council failed to provide reasons for its selection, in new Article 110b of Council Regulation No 1782/2003, of the stage of boll opening as the decisive time for the grant of aid.

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Misuse of powers in that the Council has used the power conferred on it by paragraph 6 of Protocol 4, cited above, that is to say the procedure for adapting the system of aid for cotton laid down in the Protocol, for an end which is different from that provided for therein.

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Infringement of the Treaty or of rules relating to its implementation in that the Council has, in adopting the contested provisions, acted in breach of general principles of Community law: (i) proportionality, since the measures reforming the system of aid for cotton are manifestly contrary to the objectives which the Council itself has set and since, furthermore, there were other less onerous measures for attaining those objectives, and (ii) legitimate expectations.