## Facts

- The EU “own resources” system required Member States to make available certain revenues, including a resource calculated on gross national product (GNP).
- Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No. 2891/77 required GNP-based amounts to be entered in the accounts on the first working day of each month (Art. 10(3)).
- The Regulation imposed default interest for any delay in making own resources available, calculated automatically under a specified rate mechanism (Art. 11).
- Greece did not timely enter the GNP-based own resources due for June 1983 on the first working day of that month.
- Greece refused to pay the default interest triggered by the late payment.
- Greece argued the delay resulted from a general strike by banking staff and should be treated as force majeure excusing interest.
- After the pre-litigation procedure, the Commission brought an infringement action under Article 169 EEC (now Article 258 TFEU).

## Issues

1. Whether Greece breached its EU obligations by failing to timely enter and make available the GNP-based own resources for June 1983 as required by Regulation 2891/77.
2. Whether a general bank strike constituted force majeure excusing the delay and eliminating the obligation to pay default interest under Regulation 2891/77.

## Decision

- The Court found Greece failed to fulfill its obligations by not entering the June 1983 GNP-based own resources on time under Article 10(3) of Regulation 2891/77.
- The Court also found a separate breach in Greece’s refusal to pay default interest due under Article 11.
- The Court rejected Greece’s force majeure defense based on the bank strike, emphasizing the strike was foreseeable and precautionary steps could have been taken.
- Greece was ordered to pay the costs.

## Legal Principles

- In EU law, force majeure requires extraneous circumstances creating abnormal difficulties, independent of the party’s will, that remain unavoidable even if all due care is exercised; absolute impossibility is not required.
- A foreseeable disruptive event, such as a publicly announced strike, will not qualify as force majeure when the obligated party could take reasonable measures to ensure compliance.
- Under the EU own-resources regime, default interest for late payment is an automatic legal consequence of delay; Member States have no discretion to withhold interest once the triggering conditions occur.
- Refusal to pay legally mandated default interest may constitute an independent failure to fulfill treaty-based obligations.

## Conclusion

The Court held that Greece violated EU own-resources obligations by missing the required accounting date for June 1983 GNP-based resources and by refusing to pay the resulting automatic default interest; a foreseeable bank strike did not amount to force majeure.


Comm’n of the Eur. Cmtys. v. Hellenic Republic, Case 70/86, 1987 E.C.R. 3545 (C.J.E.U. 1987)