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Estonia will use the last chance of getting back sugar fine

BC, Tallinn, 06.03.2015.Print version
The Estonian Ministry of Agriculture on Thursday filed an action to the European Court of Justice, to get back, at least in part, the 34.3 million euros fee paid for the sugar surplus stock, LETA/delfi.ee reports.

"Estonia's arguments are strong. We find that so far, injustice has been done to us," said Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas at the government press conference on Thursday.

 

Rõivas did not dare to forecast how long the European Court of Justice procedures could take. "I would not like to pinpoint a deadline yet."

 

Estonia finds that the European Commission has violated a number of general principles of law derived from the foundation treaty, such as the principle of good governance and legality of the activities of the EU and this has resulted in the unjust enrichment of the union.

 

When Estonia joined the European Union, it had to pay a so-called fine for surplus stocks of various commodities. Since the General Court of the European Union annulled the decision of the European Commission on the determination of surplus stocks of agricultural products other than sugar, the Commission returned 6,584,000 euros paid to the budget of the Community to Estonia at the end of 2012. Referring to the same decision, Estonia has also requested that 34.3 million euros that were paid for the sugar surplus stocks would be recovered. The Commission announced in December 2014 that it does not fulfil this request and Estonia can appeal to the European Court of Justice.

 

Bringing an action is supported by the position of the European Court of Justice that the European Commission did not meet its obligation to ensure that the necessary legislation would be published in Estonian in the Official Journal of the European Union on the accession date.


Estonia has paid a total of 34.3 million euros or 75% of the total amount of 45.7 million euros for the sugar surplus stocks. Estonia was allowed to keep 25% of the total amount to cover the costs, therefore, it was not required to pay it to the Union budget.

 

By filing an action, the Republic of Estonia has used all available possibilities to recover the amount paid to the Community’s budget for the sugar surplus stocks.






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