63In response to the Commission's argument based on the Pincherle and Barassi judgments, in which the Court of First Instance laid down the principle that the reimbursement rates provided for in Article 72(1) of the Staff Regulations constitute maximum rates and recognized, in Barrassi, that a reimbursement amounting to only 31% of the expenses incurred was lawful, the applicant alleges a manifest breach of the principle of social insurance underlying Article 72 of the Staff Regulations where, although reimbursement is in principle provided for at the rate of 100%, the actual reimbursement is reduced, as in this case, to a rate of 35% for the first 90 days and 21% thereafter. The Court of First Instance's reasoning in Barassi, based on Article 72(3) of the Staff Regulations, which provides for special reimbursement in cases where the expenditure not reimbursed is particularly high, is, according to the applicant, irreconcilable with a systematic and teleological interpretation of that provision. First, that provision applies only to exceptional situations, as is apparent from the specific procedure laid down and the discretion allowed to the appointing authority in that connection: the Court's statement that that provision justifies implementing measures which, structurally, lead to an extremely low reimbursement rate, thus entails a total reversal of the general scheme of Article 72 (see Case 115/83 Ooms v Commission [1984] ECR 2613, paragraph 14). Furthermore, the Court's reasoning is not valid under the particular system of 100% reimbursement in cases of serious illness: it is not permissible for reimbursement to be limited to less than one-quarter by means of implementing provisions on the ground that, in such a case and under the conditions laid down in Article 72(3) of the Staff Regulations, the appointing authority may grant an application for special reimbursement.
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