Judgment;Information — ECLI:EU:T:2025:179
Date: 2025-02-26
Language of the case: French
Court formation: First Chamber
Subject matter: External relations;Common foreign and security policy
Procedure: Action for damages - unfounded;Action for annulment - successful

Judgment of the General Court (First Chamber) of 26 February 2025 – Tokareva v Council (Case T‑269/24) ( Common foreign and security policy – Restrictive measures taken in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine – Freezing of funds – List of persons, entities and bodies subject to the freezing of funds and economic resources – Maintaining the applicant’s name on the list – Concept of ‘benefitting from a leading businessperson operating in Russia’ – Article 2(1)(g) of Decision 2014/145/CFSP – Error of assessment – Non-contractual liability ) 1. European Union – Judicial review of the legality of the acts of the institutions – Restrictive measures adopted in view of the situation in Ukraine – Scope of the review – Proof that the measure is well founded – Obligation on the competent EU authority to establish, in the event of challenge, that the reasons relied on against the persons or entities concerned are well founded – Inclusion on the lists based on a specific, precise and consistent body of evidence – Absence – Error of assessment (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 47; Council Decision 2014/145/CFSP, as amended by Decisions (CFSP) 2024/847 and (CFSP) 2024/2456; Council Regulations No 269/2014, 2024/849 and 2024/2455) (see paragraphs 42-45, 90, 91) 2. European Union – Judicial review of the legality of the acts of the institutions – Restrictive measures adopted in view of the situation in Ukraine – Scope of the review – Proof that the measure is well founded – Obligation on the competent EU authority to establish, in the event of challenge, that the reasons relied on against the persons or entities concerned are well founded – Breadth of the discretion of that competent authority – Relevance of evidence produced on the basis of a previous inclusion where there are no amendments to the grounds for inclusion or changes in the applicant’s situation or in the context in Ukraine – Changes in the applicant’s situation – Absence (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 47; Council Decision 2014/145/CFSP, as amended by Decisions (CFSP) 2024/847 and (CFSP) 2024/2456; Council Regulations No 269/2014, 2024/849 and 2024/2455) (see paragraphs 46, 47, 65-68, 71-73, 79) 3. Common foreign and security policy – Restrictive measures adopted in view of the situation in Ukraine – Criteria for adopting restrictive measures – Leading businesspersons operating in Russia and their close family members or other natural persons benefiting from them – Concept of benefit – Non-negligible benefit of any kind – Benefit granted before the annexation of Crimea – Not included (Council Decision 2014/145/CFSP, as amended by Decisions (CFSP) 2023/1094, (CFSP) 2024/847 and (CFSP) 2024/2456, Art. 2(1)(g); Council Regulations No 269/2014, Art. 3(1)(g), 2023/1089, 2024/849 and 2024/2455) (see paragraphs 51-55, 69, 70, 81, 83) 4. Common foreign and security policy – Restrictive measures adopted in view of the situation in Ukraine – Criteria for adopting restrictive measures – Leading businesspersons operating in Russia and their close family members or other natural persons benefiting from them – Concept of benefit – Non-negligible benefit of any kind – Property assets – Need to demonstrate an increase in property assets after the annexation of Crimea (Council Decision 2014/145/CFSP, as amended by Decisions (CFSP) 2023/1094, (CFSP) 2024/847 and (CFSP) 2024/2456, Art. 2(1)(g); Council Regulations No 269/2014, Art. 3(1)(g), 2023/1089, 2024/849 and 2024/2455) (see paragraphs 85-88) 5. Non-contractual liability – Conditions – Unlawfulness – Damage – Causal link – One of those conditions not met – Action for damages dismissed in its entirety (Art. 340, second para., TFEU) (see paragraphs 96, 97, 116, 117) 6. Non-contractual liability – Conditions – Sufficiently serious breach of EU law – Discretion of the institution when adopting the measure – Assessment of whether the institution’s act or conduct was unlawful – Necessity of taking contextual and temporal factors into consideration – Existence of a sufficiently serious breach of EU law – Absence (Art. 340, second para., TFEU; Council Decision 2014/145/CFSP, as amended by Decisions (CFSP) 2024/847 and (CFSP) 2024/2456; Council Regulations No 269/2014, 2024/849 and 2024/2455) (see paragraphs 98, 99, 107-114) 7. Non-contractual liability – Conditions – Unlawfulness – Sufficiently serious breach of a rule of EU law – Rule of law intended to confer rights on individuals – Concept – Conditions relating to the adoption of restrictive measures taken in view of the situation in Ukraine – Included (Art. 340, second para., TFEU; Council Decision 2014/145/CFSP, as amended by Decisions (CFSP) 2024/847 and (CFSP) 2024/2456; Council Regulations No 269/2014, 2024/849 and 2024/2455) (see paragraphs 100, 101) 8. Non-contractual liability – Conditions – Unlawfulness – Sufficiently serious breach of EU law – Annulment of one or more acts of an institution – Irrefutable evidence of a sufficiently serious breach – Absence (Art. 340, second para., TFEU) (see paragraphs 102-105) 9. Non-contractual liability – Conditions – Unlawfulness – Assessment of the legality of the institutions’ conduct – Fund-freezing measures – Measures pursuing a legitimate common foreign and security policy objective – Measures such as to justify negative consequences, even significant negative consequences, with a view to achieving that objective (Art. 21 TEU; Art. 340, second para., TFEU; Council Decision 2014/145/CFSP, as amended by Decisions (CFSP) 2024/847 and (CFSP) 2024/2456; Council Regulations No 269/2014, 2024/849 and 2024/2455) (see paragraph 106) 10. Non-contractual liability – Conditions – Unlawfulness – Sufficiently serious breach of EU law – Annulment of one or more acts of an institution – Non-removal by the Council of the applicant’s name from the lists of subsequent acts – Existence of a sufficiently serious breach of EU law – Absence (Art. 266 TFEU; Council Decision 2014/145/CFSP, as amended by Decisions (CFSP) 2024/847 and (CFSP) 2024/2456; Council Regulations No 269/2014, 2024/849 and 2024/2455) (see paragraph 115) Operative part The Court: 1. Annuls Council Decision (CFSP) 2024/847 of 12 March 2024 amending Decision 2014/145/CFSP concerning restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/849 of 12 March 2024 implementing Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 concerning restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, Council Decision (CFSP) 2024/2456 of 12 September 2024 amending Decision 2014/145/CFSP concerning restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine and Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2455 of 12 September 2024 implementing Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 concerning restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, in so far as the name of Ms Maya Tokareva was maintained on the list of persons, entities and bodies to which those restrictive measures apply; 2. Dismisses the action as to the remainder; 3. Orders the Council of the European Union to bear its own costs and to pay those of Ms Tokareva.