Order of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 24 September 2009 – Município de Gondomar v Commission

(Case C-501/08 P)

Appeal – Cohesion fund – Regulation (EC) No 1164/94 – Cancellation of Community financial assistance – Action for annulment – Admissibility – Measures of direct and individual concern to the applicant)

1.                     Actions for annulment – Natural or legal persons – Measures of direct and individual concern to them – Whether directly concerned – Criteria – Commission decision addressed to a Member State, cancelling financial assistance granted by the Cohesion Fund (Art. 230, fourth para., EC) (see paras 25-32)

2.                     Appeals – Grounds – Inadequate statement of reasons – Reliance by the Court of First Instance on implied reasoning – Whether permissible – Conditions (Art. 225 EC; Statute of the Court of Justice, Arts 36 and 53, first para.) (see paras 33-35)

3.                     European Communities – Judicial review of the legality of the acts of the institutions – Necessary for natural or legal persons to proceed by way of a preliminary ruling on validity – National courts obliged to apply national procedural rules in such a way as to make it possible to challenge the legality of acts of the institutions (Arts 10 EC, 230, fourth para., EC and 234 EC) (see paras 37-39)

Re:

Appeal against the order of the Court of First Instance (Fourth Chamber) of 10 September 2008 in Case T-324/06

Município de Gondomar

v

Commission

by which that court declared inadmissible the action for annulment of the decision of the Commission of the European Communities C(2006) 3782 of 16 August 2006 on the cancellation of the financial assistance granted by the Cohesion Fund for Project No 95/10/61/07 – Redevelopment of Greater Oporto/South – Gondomar subsystem (Portugal).

Operative part:

1.

The appeal is dismissed.

2.

The Município de Gondomar is ordered to pay the costs.