48In the second place, to the extent that, according to the Court’s case-law, the obligation to state reasons laid down in the second paragraph of Article 296 TFEU is an essential procedural requirement, as distinct from the question whether the reasons given are correct, which goes to the substantive legality of the contested measure (judgment of 17 March 2011, AJD Tuna, C‑221/09, EU:C:2011:153, paragraph 60 and the case-law cited), and that some of the arguments advanced by the Italian Republic in support of the second and fifth pleas do not call into question the reasoning of the contested regulation, but rather the merits of the choice of reference period, those arguments will be examined in the context of the sixth plea.
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