Action brought on 23 May 2019 — Thunus and Others v EIB

(Case T-318/19)

(2019/C 246/38)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicants: Vincent Thunus (Contern, Luxembourg) and 7 applicants (represented by: L. Levi, lawyer)

Defendant: European Investment Bank

Form of order sought

The applicants claim that the Court should:

— declare the present action admissible and well founded, including the plea of illegality which it contains;

— consequently, — annul the decision contained in the applicants’ pay slips for the month of February 2019, a decision fixing the annual adjustment of the basic salary limited to 0.8% for the year 2019, and, therefore the annulment of the similar decisions contained in the subsequent payslips;

— accordingly, order the defendant — to pay compensation for material harm (i) for the outstanding salary corresponding to the application of the annual adjustment for 2019, that is, an increase of 1.2%, for the period from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019; (ii) for the outstanding salary corresponding to the consequences of applying the annual adjustment of 0.8% for 2019 on the amount of the salaries which will be paid from January 2019; (iii) for default interest on outstanding salaries due until full payment of the amounts due, the rate of default interest to be applied having to be calculated on the basis of the rate fixed by the European Central Bank for its main refinancing operations, applicable during the relevant period, plus three percentage points;

— If necessary, should the defendant fail to produce them on its own initiative, order it, by way of measures of organisation of the procedure, to produce the following documents: — the decision of the Board of Directors of the EIB of 18 July 2017 (CA/505/17); — the report of the remuneration subcommittee of the Board of Directors of December 2018; — the decision of the Board of Directors of 11 December 2018 (Annex 3 to PV/19/01); — the decision of the Management Committee of 30 January 2019 (MC-018-ADM-20190130); — the note from the Personnel Directorate of 18 January 2019 (CS-PERS/HRPLC/DIR/2019-001/ABGS);

— order the defendant to pay all of the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of the action, the applicants rely respectively, on the one hand, with regard to the decision of the Board of Directors of 18 July 2017, on two pleas in law and, on the other hand, with regard to the decisions of the Management Committee of December 2018 and January 2019, on four pleas in law.

With regard to the decision of the Board of Directors of 18 July 2017:

1. First plea in law, alleging infringement of the principle of legal certainty.

2. Second plea in law, alleging infringement of the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations and of acquired rights.

With regard to the decisions of the Management Committee of December 2018 and January 2019:

1. First plea in law, alleging the lack of competence of the author of the contested act and infringement of Article 18 of the rules of procedure.

2. Second plea in law, alleging infringement of the procedural guarantees under Article 41 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

3. Third plea in law, alleging infringement of the right of consultation of the College of staff representatives.

4. Fourth plea in law, alleging infringement of the principle of proportionality.

As regards the claim for compensation, the applicants claim payment of the difference in remuneration due, that is 1.2% since 1 January 2019 (including the impact of that increase on financial advantages) plus interest for late payment.