Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 1 October 2020 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Špecializovaný trestný súd — Slovakia) — Criminal proceedings against TG, UF

(Case C-603/19) (1)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Protection of the financial interests of the European Union - Article 325 TFEU - Criminal proceedings concerning offences relating to subsidy fraud funded in part from the budget of the European Union - National law not allowing State bodies to obtain, in criminal proceedings, the recovery of subsidies by way of compensation for damage caused by the offences)

(2020/C 399/28)

Language of the case: Slovak

Referring court

Špecializovaný trestný súd

Parties to the main criminal proceedings

TG, UF

Interveners: Úrad špeciálnej prokuratúry Generálnej prokuratúry Slovenskej republiky, Úrad práce, sociálnych vecí a rodiny Košice, Úrad práce, sociálnych vecí a rodiny Vranov nad Topľou, Úrad práce, sociálnych vecí a rodiny Michalovce

Operative part of the judgment

Article 2(1) of Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA must be interpreted as meaning that that directive does not apply to legal persons or to the State, even if national law confers on them the status of injured party in criminal proceedings;

Article 325 TFEU must be interpreted as not precluding provisions of national law, as interpreted in national case-law, under which, in criminal proceedings, the State may not claim compensation for damage caused to it by fraudulent conduct on the part of the accused person resulting in the misappropriation of funds from the budget of the European Union, and under which the State does not have, in those proceedings, any other type of action available to it by which it may assert its right as against the accused, provided that, which it is for the referring court to verify, the national legislation provides for effective proceedings for the recovery of assistance wrongly received from the budget of the European Union.

(1) OJ C 348, 14.10.2019.