----

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Full Court)

of 30 March 2004

in Case C-167/02 P: Willi Rothley and Others v European Parliament (1)

(‘Appeal - Measure of the Parliament concerning the terms and conditions for internal investigations in relation to the prevention of fraud - Action for annulment - Admissibility - Independence and immunity of Members of the Parliament - Confidentiality connected with the work of Parliamentary committees of inquiry - European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) - Investigative powers’)

(2004/C 106/16)

Language of the case: German

In Case C-167/02 P: appeal by Willi Rothley, residing in Rockenhausen (Germany), Marco Pannella, residing in Rome (Italy), Marco Cappato, residing in Milan (Italy), Gianfranco Dell'Alba, residing in Rome, Benedetto Della Vedova, residing in Milan, Olivier Dupuis, residing in Rome, Klaus-Heiner Lehne, residing in Düsseldorf (Germany), Johannes Voggenhuber, residing in Vienna (Austria), Christian von Boetticher, residing in Pinneberg (Germany), Emma Bonino, residing in Rome, Elmar Brok, residing in Bielefeld (Germany), Renato Brunetta, residing in Rome, Udo Bullmann, residing in Gießen (Germany), Michl Ebner, residing in Bolzano (Italy), Raina A. Mercedes Echerer, residing in Vienna, Markus Ferber, residing in Bobingen (Germany), Francesco Fiori, residing in Voghera (Italy), Evelyne Gebhardt, residing in Mulfingen (Germany), Norbert Glante, residing in Werder/Havel (Germany), Alfred Gomolka, residing in Greifswald (Germany), Friedrich-Wilhelm Graefe zu Baringdorf, residing in Spenge (Germany), Lissy Gröner, residing in Neustadt (Germany), Ruth Hieronymi, residing in Bonn (Germany), Magdalene Hoff, residing in Hagen (Germany), Georg Jarzembowski, residing in Hamburg (Germany), Karin Jöns, residing in Bremen (Germany), Karin Junker, residing in Düsseldorf, Othmar Karas, residing in Vienna, Margot Keßler, residing in Kehmstedt (Germany), Heinz Kindermann, residing in Strasburg (Germany), Karsten Knolle, residing in Quedlinburg (Germany), Dieter-Lebrecht Koch, residing in Weimar (Germany), Christoph Konrad, residing in Bochum (Germany), Constanze Krehl, residing in Leipzig (Germany), Wilfried Kuckelkorn, residing in Bergheim (Germany), Helmut Kuhne, residing in Soest (Germany), Bernd Lange, residing in Hanover (Germany), Kurt Lechner, residing in Kaiserslautern (Germany), Jo Leinen, residing in Saarbrucken (Germany), Rolf Linkohr, residing in Stuttgart (Germany), Giorgio Lisi, residing in Rimini (Italy), Erika Mann, residing in Bad Gandersheim (Germany), Thomas Mann, residing in Schwalbach/Taunus (Germany), Mario Mauro, residing in Milan, Hans-Peter Mayer, residing in Vechta (Germany), Winfried Menrad, residing in Schwäbisch Hall (Germany), Peter-Michael Mombaur, residing in Düsseldorf, Rosemarie Müller, residing in Nieder-Olm (Germany), Hartmut Nassauer, residing in Wolfhagen (Germany), Giuseppe Nistico, residing in Rome, Willi Piecyk, residing in Reinfeld (Germany), Hubert Pirker, residing in Klagenfurt (Austria), Christa Randzio-Plath, residing in Hamburg, Bernhard Rapkay, residing in Dortmund (Germany), Mechtild Rothe, residing in Bad Lippspringe (Germany), Dagmar Roth-Behrendt, residing in Berlin (Germany), Paul Rübig, residing in Wels (Austria), Umberto Scapagnini, residing in Catane (Italy), Jannis Sakellariou, residing in Munich (Germany), Horst Schnellhardt, residing in Langenstein (Germany), Jürgen Schröder, residing in Dresden (Germany), Martin Schulz, residing in Würselen (Germany), Renate Sommer, residing in Herne (Germany), Ulrich Stockmann, residing in Bad Kösen (Germany), Maurizio Turco, residing in Pulsano (Italy), Guido Viceconte, residing in Bari (Italy), Ralf Walter, residing in Cochem (Germany), Brigitte Wenzel-Perillo, residing in Leipzig, Rainer Wieland, residing in Stuttgart, Stefano Zappala, residing in Latina (Italy), and Jürgen Zimmerling, residing in Essen (Germany), represented by: H.-J. Rabe, Rechtsanwalt, against the judgment of the Court of First Instance (Fifth Chamber) of 26 February 2002 in Case T-17/00 Rothley and Others v Parliament [2002] ECR II-579, seeking to have that judgment set aside, the other parties to the proceedings being: European Parliament, represented by J. Schoo and H. Krück, acting as Agents, with an address for service in Luxembourg, defendant at first instance, Kingdom of the Netherlands, (Agent: H.G. Sevenster), French Republic, Council of the European Union (Agents: M. Bauer and I. Díez Parra) and Commission of the European Communities (Agents: H.-P. Hartvig and U. Wölker) with an address for service in Luxembourg, interveners at first instance, the Court (Full Court), composed of V. Skouris, President, P. Jann (Rapporteur), C. Gulmann, J.N. Cunha Rodrigues and A. Rosas, Presidents of Chambers, A. La Pergola, J.-P. Puissochet, R. Schintgen, F. Macken, N. Colneric and S. von Bahr, Judges, Advocate General: F.G. Jacobs, Registrar: M.-F. Contet, Principal Administrator, has given a judgment on 30 March 2004 in which it:

----

(1)OJ C 156 of 29.6.2002.

----