Overview
- The European Commission, which filed its view Monday, asked the EU Court of Justice to declare itself incompetent and to throw out Seville’s preliminary questions for having no tie to the Union’s budget.
- The Commission argued Article 325 of the EU treaty, which protects EU financial interests, does not apply because the ERE aid program drew on Andalucía’s budget, and it declined to comment on the criminal-law merits.
- The EU Court in Luxembourg will now decide whether it has jurisdiction, and there is no hearing date set yet.
- The Seville court sent the referral after Spain’s Constitutional Court in 2024 granted partial relief to José Antonio Griñán and Manuel Chaves, and the judges warned of future impunity and cited EU financial interests.
- Spain’s prosecution service also opposed a review in a filing dated December 4, saying the Constitutional Court stayed within its role and noting that any claim of harm to EU finances should have been raised through a constitutional challenge to Andalucía’s budget laws.