Order — ECLI:EU:T:2000:172
Date: 2000-06-28
Based on: Merger Treaty (1965)
Subject matter: Staff regulations and employment conditions - EC
Concepts: Admissibility and examination of applications, forms of order sought and pleas in law
Procedure: Staff cases - inadmissible

summary form, coherently and intelligibly in the application itself (order of the Court of First Instance of 21 May 1999, Case T-154/98 Asia Motor France and Others v Commission [1999] ECR II-1703, paragraph 49, and Case T-145/98 ADT Projekt v Commission [2000] II-387, paragraph 66). 20. If, in a spirit of openness, the forms of order sought in the application were to be interpreted as seeking annulment, the fact remains that the applicant has nowhere specified the act, or acts, that she claims should be annulled. 21. In her application, the applicant confines herself to references, without any further clarification, to the 'measure in question‘ (paragraph 2), 'the unlawful Council Regulation‘ (paragraph 3), 'the present Council decision‘ (paragraph 5), 'the refusal of the Council [...] to put right the incorrect Regulation‘ (paragraph 5), 'the unlawful Regulations‘ (paragraph 8), the refusal of the Council to 'correct its erroneous Regulations‘ (paragraph 8) and the 'decision [of the Council] to maintain its incorrect Regulations‘ (paragraph 9). 22. In those circumstances it must be found that the application does not satisfy the formal requirements of Article 19(1) of the Statute of the Court of Justice and Article 44(1)(c) and (d) of the Rules of Procedure. 23. For the sake of completeness, it should also be stated that, even if, as the Council took it to mean, the application sought the annulment of Council Regulation (Euratom, ECSC, EEC) No 3736/90 of 19 December 1990 correcting, with effect from 1 July 1989, and adjusting, with effect from 1 July 1990, the remuneration and pensions of officials and other servants of the European Communities and the weightings applied thereto (OJ 1990 L 360, p. 1), Council Regulation (ECSC, EEC, Euratom) No 3834/91 of 19 December 1991 adjusting, with effect from 1 July 1991, the remuneration and pensions of officials and other servants of the European Communities and the weightings applied thereto (OJ 1991 L 361, p. 13), and of Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 3761/92 of 21 December 1992 adjusting, with effect from 1 July 1992 the remuneration and pensions of officials and other servants of the European Communities and the weightings applied thereto (OJ 1992 L 383, p. 1), and Council Regulation (Euratom, ECSC, EC) No 3608/93 of 20 December 1993 adjusting, with effect from 1 July 1993, the remuneration and pensions of officials and other servants of the EuropeanCommunities and the weightings applied thereto (OJ 1993 L 328, p. 1), the proceedings would have to be declared inadmissible since they were not instituted within the time limit of two months provided for by the fifth paragraph of Article 230 EC. Contrary to the applicant's claim, the decision of the Council to intervene in the case giving rise to the order in Schuerer v Commission, cited above, does not in the least reopen the time-limits for the commencement of proceedings for the annulment of acts that have become definitive. 24. Assuming that the action should be interpreted as seeking the annulment of an alleged refusal of the Council to fix, with retroactive effect to 3 October 1990, a weighting for Germany based on the cost of living in Berlin, it would also be considered inadmissible. This is because where a decision of the Council amounts to a rejection, it must be appraised in the light of the nature of the request to which it constituted a reply (Joined Cases C-15/91 and C-108/91 Buckl and Others v Commission [1992] ECR I-6061, paragraph 22). The measure sought by the applicant is one of general application which, if it were to be adopted, would affect her in the same way as every other former official of the Community residing in Germany, and would not be of individual concern to her, within the meaning of the fourth paragraph of Article 230 EC. 25. Lastly, the wording of the application does not allow the present action to be regarded as founded on Article 232 EC, which is indeed confirmed by the fact that the applicant did not formally call upon the Council to act before bringing the present proceeedings. 26. It follows from all of the above considerations that this action must be dismissed as inadmissible. Costs 27. Under Article 87(2) of the Rules of Procedure, the unsuccessful party is to be ordered to pay the costs if they have been applied for in the successful party's pleadings. Since the applicant has been unsuccessful, she must be ordered to pay the Council's costs. On those grounds, THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Third Chamber) hereby orders: 1. The application is dismissed as inadmissible. 2. The applicant shall pay the costs. Luxembourg, 28 June 2000 H. Jung K. Lenaerts Registrar President 1: Language of the case: German.