Traduction de «appréciation générale » (Français → Anglais) :

In that regard, the Advocate General takes the view that, when conducting its review of legality, the General Court may not use the Commission’s margin of discretion as a basis for dispensing with the conduct of an in-depth review of the law and of the facts in respect of the fine imposed or for failing to require the Commission to explain a change in its policy regarding fines in a specific case.

Moreover, according to the case-law, although Member States have wide discretion to define what they regard as services of general economic interest, the definition of such services or tasks by a Member State can be questioned by the Commission in the event of a manifest error . In other words, although the determination of the nature and scope of an SGEI mission falls within the competence and discretionary powers of Member States, such competence is neither unlimited nor can it be exercised arbitrarily . In particular, for an activity to be considered as an SGEI, it should exhibit special characteristics as compared with ordinary economic activities . In this respect, the Commission will consider that in areas where private investors have ...[+++] already invested in a broadband network infrastructure (or are in the process of expanding further their network infrastructure) and are already providing competitive broadband services with an adequate broadband coverage, setting up a parallel competitive and publicly-funded broadband infrastructure should not be considered as an SGEI within the meaning of Article 86 of the Treaty . Where however it can be demonstrated that private investors may not be in a position to provide in the near future adequate broadband coverage to all citizens or users leaving thus a significant part of the population unconnected, a public service compensation may be granted to an undertaking entrusted with the operation of an SGEI provided that the conditions set out in paragraphs 25 to 29 are met.

Finally, the Court is also being asked whether the directive can apply in the absence of an appropriate list of the feed materials which may be used in compound feedingstuffs . In the Opinion delivered today, Advocate General Antonio Tizzano stresses, in the first place, the overriding importance which public health is recognised as having within the Community system, and to which priority must be given over economic and commercial interests.

Indeed, Member States enjoy a wide margin of discretion when deciding whether and in what way to finance the provision of services of general economic interest.

(11) Each body could have access to the panel referred to in Article 66(4) of the general Financial Regulation set up by the Commission to examine irregularities so that a similar assessment can be made of identical cases.

- using evaluation tools to assess the operation, performance and competitiveness of general interest services, so that the regulation can be adapted in line with technological changes (which increase the cross-border possibilities of providing services within the Internal Market), new consumer needs and new public interest demands.