Agriculture - Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund - Discontinuance of financial aid - Article 24 of Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88 - Principle of proportionality - Statement of reasons.

«(Agriculture – Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund – Discontinuance of financial aid – Article 24 of Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88 – Principle of proportionality – Statement of reasons)» Summary of the Judgment 1.. Economic and social cohesion – Structural assistance – Community funding for national projects – Applicants for, and beneficiaries of, EAGGF financial assistance required to provide information and to act in good faith 2.. Economic and social cohesion – Structural assistance – Community funding – The submission of altered information relating to the ordering and delivery of materials benefiting from assistance constitutes an irregularity within the meaning of Article 24(2) of Regulation No 4253/88 – Breach of the obligation on applicants for, and beneficiaries of, EAGGF financial assistance to provide information and to act in good faith (Council Regulation No 4253/88, Art. 24(2) and (3)) 3.. Economic and social cohesion – Structural assistance – Community funding – EAGGF financial assistance discontinued because of irregularities – Whether permissible – Legal basis (Council Regulation no 4253/88, Art. 24(2) and (3)) 4.. Acts of the institutions – Withdrawal – Unlawful acts – Conditions – Compliance with the principles of legal certainty and protection of legitimate expectations 5.. Agriculture – Common agricultural policy – Structural reform – Common measures – Improvement of the conditions under which agricultural products are processed and marketed – EAGGF financial assistance discontinued for breach of fundamental obligations – Breach of the principle of proportionality – None (Art. 5, third para., EC; Council Regulation No 355/77) JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Fifth Chamber)11 March 2003 (1) ((Agriculture – Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund – Discontinuance of financial aid – Article 24 of Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88 – Principle of proportionality – Statement of reasons)) applicant, v defendant, THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (Fifth Chamber), having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 12 November 2002, gives the following On those grounds, THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Fifth Chamber) García-Valdecasas Lindh Cooke H. Jung R. García-Valdecasas Registrar President 1 – Language of the case: Italian.