Judgment (extracts);Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2018:820
Date: 2018-11-22
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Third Chamber
Based on: Merger Treaty (1965)
Subject matter: Staff regulations and employment conditions - EC
Procedure: Staff cases - inadmissible;Action for damages - unfounded;Staff cases - successful

Summary — Judgment of the General Court (Third Chamber), 22 November 2018 Officials — Recruitment — Probationary period — Period under the Staff Regulations — Extension of the probationary period beyond 15 months — Precluded (Staff Regulations of Officials, Art. 34(1), second para.) Under the terms of the second subparagraph of Article 34(1) of the Staff Regulations, the total length of the probationary period must in no circumstances exceed 15 months. According to a literal interpretation of that provision, there is nothing that prevents a probationer from completing his duties during his probationary period which can justify extending the probationary period beyond 15 months from the date of starting that probationary period. Neither the context nor the objectives pursued by the Staff Regulations, which must be considered when interpreting one of its provisions, invalidate that interpretation of the second subparagraph of Article 34(1) of the Staff Regulations. As regards the objective pursued by the second subparagraph of Article 34(1) of the Staff Regulations, setting a maximum length for the probationary period seeks, on the one hand, to limit, in the interests of both the administration and the probationer, the period during which the employment relationship is affected by lack of security and, on the other, to determine the period during which the official’s conduct must be assessed by the appointing authority. That objective confirms the aforementioned interpretation of the second subparagraph of Article 34(1) of the Staff Regulations. By setting, independently of the reasons preventing the probationer from performing his duties, the maximum duration of his probationary period at 15 months — from the start thereof — the Staff Regulations set an absolute limit in time, in the interest of legal certainty, for the insecure employment relationship between the probationer and the administration and determines the maximum duration of the probationary period which may be taken into account by the appointing authority when assessing the probationer’s conduct. (see paras 189-192)