Referral of Greece to the Court of Justice of the EU for delayed payments by public hospitals

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The European Commission has today published its monthly list of appeals and referrals for the ’27’ EU Member States.

As far as Greece is concerned, the Commission decided to refer Greece to the Court of Justice of the European Union for improper application of the rules based on the Directive on late payments (Directive 2011/7/EU).

Late payments have a negative impact on businesses, reducing liquidity, hindering growth, hindering resilience and potentially hindering efforts to become greener and more digital. Under the current economic environment, businesses and especially SMEs rely on regular payments to operate and invest. The Late Payment Directive obliges public authorities to pay their invoices within 30 days (or 60 days for public health authorities). By meeting these payment deadlines, public authorities are setting a good example in combating bad payment culture.

The Commission is referring Greece to the Court of Justice of the EU over payment practices by Greek public hospitals to their suppliers that breach the Late Payments Directive.

At the same time, it decided to send a reasoned opinion to Greece (INFR(2021)2236) and Cyprus (INFR(2021)2265) because they did not correctly transpose into their national legislation the Directive on combating fraud in the Union budget through criminal law ( PIF directive). These rules increase the level of protection of the EU budget by harmonizing the definitions, sanctions and limitation periods of criminal offenses affecting the financial interests of the Union and lay the foundations for the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), the announcement points out.

Finally, the European Commission has also decided to initiate infringement proceedings by sending warning letters to Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands for improper implementation of certain legal provisions provided for by the Single European Sky performance and charging system (SES ) for air navigation services, established by Regulation (EC) no. 549/2004 and regulation (EC) No. 550/2004. The Commission identified a lack of appropriate funding arrangements for air navigation services in some cross-border areas, an inappropriate or unjustified allocation of costs between en route and terminal air navigation services, and insufficient financial incentives for service providers. This not only affects the revenue of air navigation service providers but also the fees paid by airspace users, such as customers, the Commission reports.