On 29 January 2025, the Athens Administrative Court of Appeal published decision 4086/2024, which acknowledged that the Athens 3 Member Administrative Court of First Instance, in its first instance decision, had not fully complied with a decision of the General Court of the European Union, as it was required to do under EU law.
According to the reasoning of the Athens Administrative Court of Appeal, the principle of good faith cooperation enshrined in Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) implies the obligation of Member States to apply in full the provisions of European Union law and the duties arising from the EU Treaties on the basis of mutual respect and cooperation.
This means that national authorities must, firstly, interpret their legislation in line with EU law, secondly, refuse to apply any contrary provision of national law and, thirdly, nullify the unlawful consequences of a breach of EU law. Under EU law and according to the reasoning of the Athens Administrative Court of Appeal’s judgment, the obligation of Member States to apply EU law binds all their public authorities, including national courts and not only administrative departments and central government.
Indeed, when called upon to apply Union law, the courts must not apply those provisions of national law which are contrary to or likely to undermine the relevant Union provisions and the overall validity and binding nature of the Union’s legal rules. At the same time, judicial review within the EU legal order is entrusted not only to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) but also to national courts, which must interpret national procedural rules in such a way as to ensure effective judicial protection of the rights derived from Community law.
The importance of the above legislative framework in the case in question lies in the fact that, according to the reasoning of the decision of the Athens Administrative Court of Appeal, the Athens 3 Member Administrative Court of First Instance only partially upheld a company’s claim for the repayment of an amount deemed to have been unduly paid to the Greek State, without, however, requiring the national authorities to repay the interest that the company had been deprived of from the date of payment of the amount of the capital in dispute until the date of its repayment, despite their request in this regard. This is despite the fact that if a sum of money is found to have been unduly paid following an annulment judgment of the CJEU, it must be repaid together with default interest.
Based on the above, the Athens Administrative Court of Appeal accepted the company’s appeal and annulled the decision of the Athens 3 Member Administrative Court of First Instance on the basis of the Greek State’s failure to comply with a judgment of the General Court by not repaying interest on the amount paid in default, as per Article 105 of the Introductory Law of the Civil Code.
As an EU Member State, Greece has a duty, in accordance with the principle of good faith cooperation enshrined in Article 4(3) of the EU Treaty (TEU), to fully apply the provisions of EU law and the duties arising from the EU Treaties on the basis of mutual respect and cooperation.
However, it is apparent from the judgment of the Athens Administrative Court of Appeal in this case that the Greek State has breached that obligation in the context of a judgment by the Athens 3 Member Administrative Court of First Instance.
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