Judgment_paragraph 39 · European Commission v Council of the European Union (C-377/12)

39The Court drew the conclusion, in paragraph 39 of that judgment, that it should be held that the fact that a development cooperation agreement contains clauses concerning various specific matters cannot alter the characterisation of the agreement, which must be determined having regard to its essential object and not in terms of individual clauses, provided that those clauses do not impose such extensive obligations concerning the specific matters referred to that those obligations in fact constitute objectives distinct from those of development cooperation.