Judgment_paragraph 24 · Hortiplant SAT v Commission of the European Communities (C-330/01 P)

24Moreover, Hortiplant maintains that the Court of First Instance ought to have interpreted Article 24(1) of Regulation No 4253/88 in accordance with the Court's case-law concerning the European Social Fund under which the submission by the Member State concerned of its observations prior to a decision to reduce assistance constitutes a material formality (see Case C-200/89 FUNOC v Commission [1990] ECR I-3669; Case C-304/89 Oliveira v Commission [1991] ECR I-2283, Case C-199/91 Foyer culturel du Sart-Tilman v Commission [1993] ECR I-2667 as well as Joined Cases T-432/93 to T-434/93 Socurte and Others v Commission [1995] ECR II-503).