Judgment_paragraph 2. · C 152\77 RF 1 B. v European Commission (152/77)

2.The Commission maintains that even if it is accepted that the Court acknowledged ‘in the abstract’ a right to the payment of interest it is impossible to find in the aforementioned judgment any information as to the date from which such interest began to run. It considers that in normal circumstances interest is only payable on debts the amount whereof is ascertained and due, that is to say, in the present case, only with effect from the date of the decision of the Court fixing definitively the degree of invalidity and until final settlement of the corresponding capital sum.The Commission maintains that the position would only be different if it were proved that the delay in fixing the degree of invalidity is imputable to it. It refers to the judgment of the Court of Justice of 26 February 1976 in Case 101/74 Kurrerv Council of the European Communities [1976] ECR 259, at p. 269, paragraphs 31 and 32, in which it was stated that the burden of proof is on the applicant. The Commission claims moreover that it is guilty of no wrongful act or omission; it considers that the fact that it has not yet been possible to fix the degree of invalidity may only be imputed to the complexity of the case.The Commission contests the applicant's argument that the compensation shall be payable from the moment that the official in question becomes totally or partially incapable of work. It maintains that the sum referred to in Article 73 of the Staff Regulations relates to the deterioration which occurs in the bodily or mental health of an official and does not concern his capacity for work.The Commission adds that even if it is assumed that the aim of the sum provided for in Article 73 of the Staff Regulations is to compensate for the losses caused by a reduction in the capacity for work the fact remains that the applicant has suffered no loss on that account: with the exception of one period of unpaid leave the applicant has received her full salary from the date of the accident up to the present time.The Commission refers, finally, to the rules laid down by the Court in its judgment of 16 March 1978 in Case 115/76 Leonardini v Commission [1978] ECR 735), which state that the point of reference for the fixing of the period in respect of which interest is payable cannot be purely and simply the date of the accident and that the interest on. an overdue payment shall be calculated on the basis of the amount finally ascertained to be due to the person concernend less the amounts already paid by the Commission, even if the latter have been refunded by the person concerned.