Keywords

Summary



Keywords

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1. Officials ° Actions ° Disputes concerning elections to the Staff Committee ° Interest in bringing proceedings ° Capacity as a person entitled to vote

(Staff Regulations, Arts 90 and 91)

2. Officials ° Representation ° Staff Committee ° Procedure for the 1994 elections to the Brussels local section of the Staff Committee of the Commission ° Trade unions and staff associations precluded from submitting more than one list ° Scope of that constraint ° Whether lawful ° Implementation by the electoral office

(Staff Regulations, Arts 9(2), 9(3) and 24a; Annex II, fourth para.)

3. Officials ° Actions ° Claim for compensation ° Annulment of the contested unlawful act ° Appropriate reparation for the non-material damage

(Staff Regulations, Art. 91)

Summary

1. Every person entitled to vote has an interest in ensuring that his representatives on the Staff Committee are elected in conditions and according to voting arrangements which comply with the provisions of the Staff Regulations governing voting procedure in this context. That interest, which entitles such a person to bring an action contesting a decision taken by the electoral office in the course of its duty to organize the ballot, is retained by him notwithstanding the fact that he is a member of a trade union or staff association who has stood for election at the head of a list and whose election has been announced on the strength of the relevant ballot.

2. The refusal to allow trade unions and staff associations to submit more than one list of candidates, which is contained in the electoral rules governing the 1994 elections to the Brussels local section of the Staff Committee of the Commission, cannot be characterized as unlawful, provided that it is construed in such a way as to be consistent with the following: any official or other servant who has the right to stand for election may do so on an independent list notwithstanding the fact that he is a member of a trade union or staff association, or even an executive member or the president; any independent candidate may openly declare his affiliation to a union and describe his union duties; an independent list and its candidates may advertise the fact that they share the views of a trade union or staff association or show their support, orally or in writing, for the ideas and policies defended by a trade union or staff association; independent lists may even mention in their designations the name of a trade union or staff association, where that union does not object, and where such reference does not simply consist in reproducing the name under which the trade union or staff association concerned is itself participating in the elections, possibly through the addition of a number so that it can be distinguished from the "official list" of the trade union or staff association in question.

On that construction, the constraint in question is not contrary to the principle of freedom and democracy or of equal treatment, since it does not impair in any way at all the rights of officials to be elected, to vote or to vote for a list of candidates, or the freedom of unions to submit a list of candidates; nor does it give rise to any form of unequal treatment as between candidates or lists of candidates, or breach the principle of representativity set out in Article 9(3) of the Staff Regulations, in the fourth paragraph of Article 1 of Annex II thereto and in the implementing rules adopted by the Commission; nor does it infringe the freedom of association defined in Article 24a of the Staff Regulations or the principle that all officials have the right to stand for election.

In view of the fact that the constraint is lawful and having regard to the powers conferred by the electoral rules on the electoral office, that body was entitled, after initially accepting two lists submitted by the same trade union or staff association, to withdraw its original decision and to request the organization concerned to withdraw one of its lists. However, the electoral office was not entitled to deny the right of candidates on the list withdrawn by the trade union or staff association to stand for election on a list which, in the light of the requirements of the electoral rules, correctly construed, could be regarded as independent.

3. The annulment of an act of the administration contested by an official constitutes per se reparation, which is appropriate and in principle sufficient, for any non-material damage which that official may have suffered.