Opinion of Mr Advocate General Mancini

Mr President,

Members of the Court,

1. In proceedings between Andrianou-Gizinou & Co. and the Greek finance authorities concerning investment aid, the Polimeles Protodikio (High Court), Athens, has asked the Court to interpret Council Regulation No 389/82 of 15 February 1982 on producer groups and associations thereof in the cotton sector (Official Journal 1982, L 51, p. 1). In particular, the national court wishes to know whether the Member States are obliged to grant the benefits provided for under that measure once the applicable conditions are fulfilled and whether, in making a selection among the applications for aid, they may exclude certain groups by reason of their legal form.

2. As the Commission rightly points out, the reference to Article 4 contained in the first question is the result of a misunderstanding. In fact only Article 5 is relevant to the problem raised by the national court. According to that article, the Member States shall grant to ... groups and associations thereof constituted on the basis of Article 2, aid for investments:

3. Let menow turn my attention to the second question. According to the Greek Government, far from discriminating against producer groups by reason of their legal form the authorities applied objective criteria. That argument is not convincing.

4. On the basis of all the foregoing considerations, I propose that the Court should reply as follows to the questions referred to it by the Polimeles Protodikio, Athens, by decision of 30 June 1986 in the proceedings pending before it between Andrianou-Gizinou & Co and the Greek finance authorities:

1 Translated from the Italian.