Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2017:665
Date: 2017-09-26
Language of the case: Dutch
Court formation: Third Chamber
Based on: Merger Treaty (1965)
Subject matter: Staff regulations and employment conditions - EC
Procedure: Staff cases - unfounded
Origin: Germany

Judgment of the General Court (Third Chamber) of 26 September 2017 — Knöll v Europol (Case T‑563/16) (Civil Service — Europol — Non-renewal of a contract — Refusal to award a contract for an indefinite period — Compensation — Annulment by the Civil Service Tribunal — Enforcement of the judgments in Cases F‑27/09 and F‑104/12) 1. Actions brought by officials — Action against a decision rejecting a complaint — Admissibility — Obligation to rule on pleas directed against the decision rejecting the complaint — Pleas devoid of independent content or purely confirmatory decision — None (Staff Regulations, Arts 90 and 91) (see paras 21-23) 2. Judicial proceedings — Admissibility of actions — Assessment having regard to rules in force at the time the application lodged — Formal requirements — Clear and precise statement of the pleas relied on — Appeal before the European Union Civil Service Tribunal (Rules of Procedure of the European Union Civil Service Tribunal, Art. 50(1)(e)) (see paras 25-28) 3. Actions for annulment — Judgment annulling a measure — Effects — Obligation to implement — Scope — Both the operative part and the grounds of the judgment to be taken into account — Retroactive effect of annulment — Obligation to ensure that the annulled measure is not replaced by a measure affected by the same irregularity (Article 266 TFEU) (see paras 33-35) 4. Acts of the institutions — Directives — Directive 1999/70 concerning the ETUC, UNICE and CEEP Framework Agreement on fixed-term work — Direct imposition of obligations on EU institutions in relations with their staff — Not included — Invocability — Scope (Art. 288, third para. TFEU; Council Directive 1999/70) (see paras 46-48) 5. Officials — Members of the temporary staff — Recruitment — Renewal of a fixed-term contract — Administration’s discretion — Europol staff — Adoption of an internal directive establishing the principle of renewal under certain conditions — Voluntary curb on the administration’s discretion in the matter (Europol Staff Regulations, Art. 6) (see paras 58, 59, 61, 67, 70, 72) 6. Actions brought by officials — Judgment annulling a measure — Effects — Obligation to implement — Period of waiting extended by unlawfulness of a decision of an institution — Compensation for non-material harm through appropriate reparation (Article 266 TFEU) (see paras 76, 77) 7. Officials — Principles — Protection of legitimate expectations — Conditions — Specific assurances given by the authorities (see paras 79, 80) Re: ACTION brought under Article 270 TFEU, seeking annulment of the decision of Europol of 29 July 2014 not to renew for an indefinite period the contract awarded to the applicant and to allocate a sum of EUR 10 000 to him on account of the length of the procedure and the prolongation of his state of uncertainty and annulment of the decision rejecting his complaint. Operative part The Court: 1. Dismisses the action; 2. Orders Ms Brigitte Knöll to pay the costs.