21It should be noted that the purpose of the pre-litigation procedure is to afford the Member State an opportunity to comply with its obligations under EU law or to avail itself of its right to defend itself against the complaints made by the Commission. The proper conduct of the pre-litigation procedure constitutes an essential guarantee not only in order to protect the rights of the Member State concerned, but also so as to ensure that the contentious procedure will have as its subject matter a clearly defined dispute (see, to that effect, inter alia, judgment of 13 December 2001, Commission v France, C‑1/00, EU:C:2001:687, paragraph 53).
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