Judgment of the General Court (Second Chamber) of 19 December 2019 –

Wehrheim v ECB

(Case T‑100/18)

(Civil service — ECB staff — Remuneration — Expatriation allowance — Discontinuation — Liability — Material and non-material harm — Service-related fault)

1. Judicial proceedings — Measures of organisation of procedure — Written questions put to the parties — Document produced at the hearing in response to written questions — Admissibility (see paras 23, 24)

2. Actions brought by officials — Actions for damages — Application for annulment of a pre-litigation decision rejecting a request for compensation — Application not independent of the claims for compensation (Staff Regulations of Officials, Arts 90 and 91) (see paras 25, 26)

3. Actions brought by officials — Staff of the European Central Bank — Actions for damages — Prior administrative complaint — Correspondence between the complaint and the application — Same subject matter and legal basis — Broad interpretation of the concepts of subject matter and legal basis — Admissibility (European Central Bank Staff Rules, Arts 8.1 and 8.2) (see paras 27-29, 35-52)

4. Actions brought by officials — Actions for damages — Pleas in law — Illegality of a decision of the administration not challenged within the time limits — Inadmissibility (Staff Regulations of Officials, Arts 90 and 91) (see paras 53-55)

5. Actions brought by officials — Staff of the European Central Bank — Actions for damages — Action for damages brought in the absence of a pre-litigation procedure — Inadmissibility (European Central Bank Staff Rules, Art. 8.1) (see paras 58-62, 64)

6. Actions brought by officials — Staff of the European Central Bank — Actions for damages — Prior administrative complaint — Correspondence between the complaint and the application — Same subject matter and legal basis — Change in the legal basis of a claim — Not sufficient to characterise it as having a new cause of action (European Central Bank Staff Rules, Art. 8.1) (see paras 75-82)

7. Officials — Staff of the European Central Bank — Administration's duty to have regard for the interests of officials — Principle of sound administration — Scope (Staff Regulations of Officials, Art. 24) (see para. 86)

8. Officials — Non-contractual liability of the institutions — Conditions — Unlawfulness — Concept — Incorrect information provided by the administration prior to the recruitment of a member of the contract staff concerning his eligibility for the expatriation allowance — Service-related fault — Infringement of the principle of sound administration — Included (Art. 340, second para. TFEU) (see paras 89-101)

Re:

Action under Article 270 TFEU and Article 50a of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union seeking compensation for the material and non-material harm allegedly suffered by the applicant as a result of the error made by the ECB in the determination of her pecuniary rights at the time of her recruitment resulting in the grant of an expatriation allowance, which was subsequently discontinued.

Operative part

The Court:

1. Orders the European Central Bank (ECB) to pay the sum of EUR 1000 to Ms Christine Wehrheim in respect of non-material damage, together with interest, from the date of delivery of the present judgment, at the rate applied by the ECB to its main refinancing operations, increased by 3.5 percentage points, until the date of payment by the ECB of the amount of EUR 1000;

2. Dismisses the action as to the remainder;