Portugal was fined €3.6 million fine by Commission for breaking EU rules.
The European Court of Justice will on Tuesday rule on a €3.6 million fine imposed by the European Commission on cash-strapped Portugal for failing to implement a 1989 law on public procurement.
Portugal’s appeal against the fine has gained the support of several member states, including Germany, France, Greece and Sweden, who accuse the Commission of seeking to extend its powers to enforce EU law against member states and, in particular, to impose sanctions.
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The saga began back in 2004, when the ECJ ruled that a Portuguese law contravened a 1989 directive requiring member states to allow appeals against decisions to award public procurement contracts.
The Portuguese government ignored the ruling, and the ECJ ruled in 2008 that Portugal should pay a daily fine of €19,392 until it changed its laws. The Portuguese government repealed the offending legislation a couple of months later.
But the Commission argued that Portugal still did not conform with EU rules and refused to halt the daily fine. Portugal revised its public procurement rules later in 2008, but challenged the fine.
The General Court, the EU’s court of first instance, agreed with Portugal in a 2011 ruling, saying that the Commission could only fine a country for the specific infringements identified in the judgment.
Following an appeal by the Commission, Niilo Jääskinen, an ECJ advocate-general, agreed with the General Court, suggesting that the Commission was usurping the authority of the ECJ.
Intervening in support of Portugal before the ECJ, Germany argued that if the Commission believed that Portugal had still not implemented the rules on public procurement, the Commission’s only option was to bring new enforcement proceedings against Portugal.
Nicholas Hirst