EU court rules against Catalan fruit supplier's compensation claim

The EU's General Court has ruled that the European Commission does not have to compensate the Fruits de Ponent cooperative for the fruit price crisis in 2014 caused by Russia vetoing certain products in response to European sanctions imposed on Moscow.

The court in Luxembourg ruled that the European executive did not "seriously fail to comply" with its responsibilities in managing the crisis, and rejected the accusation that the Commission was "late" in taking "inadequate" action.

Compensation of 300,000 euros

Arguing its claim was in defense of its members' interests, the Fruits de Ponent cooperative had demanded compensation of more than 300,000 euros over Brussels' handling of the crisis and the Russian veto that followed.

Appealing sentence

Fruits de Ponent, which was set up in 1992 by four fruit production cooperatives, is based in the region of Lleida, in the west of Catalonia, and supplies fruit to companies on both the national and international market.

Despite the General Court's ruling, Fruits de Ponent still has the option of appealing the sentence in the Court of Justice of the European Union, which is also in Luxembourg.