Court of Justice 12 September 1996, C-142/95 P (Associazione agricoltori della provincia di Rovigo, Associazione polesana coltivatori diretti di Rovigo, Consorzio cooperative pescatori del Polesine and Cirillo Brena v Commission of the European Communities, Mauro Girello and Greguoldo Daniele.)

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Advocate General Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer opined that the Court of First Instance correctly declared inadmissible an action for annulment brought by Italian agricultural and fishing associations against a Commission decision granting LIFE financial assistance for the Po delta conservation programme, on the ground that the applicants were not individually concerned within the meaning of the fourth paragraph of Article 173 EC Treaty as interpreted by settled case-law since Plaumann. The Advocate General acknowledged a personal preference for broader standing in environmental matters but concluded that, under existing case-law, neither the material effects of the decision nor the absence of any legally binding obligation to consult the appellants during the elaboration of the measure sufficed to differentiate them from all other persons affected by an objectively defined situation. The Advocate General therefore proposed that the appeal be dismissed and the appellants ordered to pay costs.AI