I —

The provisions relating to the Court do not contain any clause expressly conferring upon it jurisdiction in disputes arising from elections to such socio-vocational bodies within the Community institutions. Nevertheless it seems to me that Article 179, a general provision, can form the basis for the settlement by the Court of such disputes: The Court of Justice shall have jurisdiction in any dispute between the Community and its servants within the limits and under the conditions laid down in the Staff Regulations or the Conditions of Employment'. Whilst the European Parliament is not directly concerned in the procedure for the election of the Staff Committee and whilst it must not interfere with that procedure it clearly has an interest in the valid appointment of that body. In fact the functions of the Staff Committee as provided for in Article 9 (3) of the Staff Regulations ‘are secondary to the activity of the institution’; ‘the nature of the Staff Committee is that of an internal agency of its institution’ (Order of 14 November 1963, Lassalle v European Parliament, [1964] ECR 51). Article 9 (2) of the Staff Regulations empowers each institution to determine the composition and procedure of the Staff Committee. The institution thus has the right and duty to ensure that its Staff Committee is properly constituted. It is bound to intervene if it appeals that there has been a failure to comply with one of the conditions laid down by Article 1 of Annex II which determines the composition and procedure of the bodies provided for in Article 9 of the Staff Regulations. The same must hold good regarding the election procedure itself and the validity of the elections to the Staff Committee. Whilst, in accordance with the rules on staff representation it is primarily for the Committee of Tellers to settle complaints concerning the election procedure, the appointing authority must ultimately be responsible to the staff as a whole for the regularity of that election procedure. The European Parliament has the power and the duty to review the manner in which the Staff Committee was elected and on at least one occasion in the past it has exercised this power. Moreover, the President of the European Parliament fulfilled his duties by expressly replying to the applicants' complaint on 7 October 1975, although he rejected it. In the context of the review by the Court this authority is the ‘natural defendant’ and not the committee elected as a result of the contested election, which, in accordance with the order in the Lassalle case, has no capacity to bring legal proceedings, or the Committee of Tellers. Only selection boards in competitions differ in this respect and the Court ruled in its decision of 14 June 1972, in the Marcato case ([1972] ECR 433) that ‘the only legal remedy open to individuals in relation to such a decision [of a selection board in a competition adversely affecting them] lies in an application to the Court which alone has jurisdiction to annul such decisions’. I should like to add for good measure that if the Court of Justice had no jurisdiction it would be difficult to imagine what other court could take cognizance of a case such as this. The judgment of this Court of 15 June 1976(Mills v European Investment Bank) concerns a case of the same nature. Finally no particular difficulty seems to arise in connexion with the consequences of a judgment which might find that the election was improper: the matter would be referred to the European Parliament which would be obliged to take the necessary steps to execute the judgment of the Court. Of course, if an irregularity affecting the validity of the elections is only found after the mandate of the irregularly elected Staff Committee has expired and if 'the nullity of the elections of 18 March 1975 will not necessarily involve the nullity of the proceedings in which the Staff Committee is called upon to act under the Staff Regulations', as the President of the Second Chamber ruled in the order of 2 July 1975, the effect of such a finding may well remain somewhat academic. However this merely emphasizes the need to settle such disputes rapidly especially as it is still possible to begin an action for damages and indeed such proceedings have already been instituted.