Case F-11/06: Action brought on  31 January 2006  — Larsen v Commission
Date: 2006-03-25
Institutions: Civil Service Tribunal
Subjects: European Commission, European official, action by staff, allowances and expenses, housing, regulations for civil servants

C 74/36

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

25.3.2006

Pleas in law and main arguments

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities

On 21 December 2000, the applicant submitted a complaint
against the decision not to promote him to Grade A4 in the
2000 promotion exercise. On 2 July 2001,
the defendant
allowed that complaint and informed the applicant that action
had been taken to finalise his staff report, but this was not
done. As a result, the applicant submitted an application for
information about the steps taken as a result of that decision of
2 July 2001. The defendant, after having acknowledged that
the 1995-1997 and 1997-1999 staff reports had not yet been
finalised, offered to set the applicant's 1997-1999 report at the
same level as the report which he had obtained for the period
1991-2001.

Although the applicant refused that offer, the defendant never-
theless concluded the applicant's staff report for the period
1997-1999 and decided not to add his name to the list of offi-
cials judged to be the most deserving, and not to promote him
to Grade A4 in the 2000 promotion exercise.

In support of his action, the applicant first submits that that
decision is invalidated inasmuch as it was taken without there
being any lawfully finalised staff reports for the periods at
issue. The defendant is accused of effectively committing a
breach of its administrative duty by not ensuring that the appli-
cant's staff reports for the period between 1 July 1995 and 30
June 1999 were drawn-up at the appropriate time.

The applicant also maintains that the defendant carried out the
the applicant's comparative merits in an
consideration of
improper manner,
inasmuch as it made use of alternative
criteria, such as age and length of service, which may only be
applied where the officials eligible for promotion are of equal
merit, a condition which was not met in this instance. The
contested decision therefore infringes Article 45 of the Staff
Regulations and the principle of equal treatment.

Action brought on 31 January 2006 — Larsen v Commis-
sion

(Case F-11/06)

(2006/C 74/70)

Language of the case: French

Form of order sought

The applicants claim that the Court should:

— Annul the decision of 2 March 2005 made by the Director
of the Office for Administration and Payment of Individual
Entitlements to reduce the applicant's remuneration from 1
May 2005;

— Order the defendant to pay the applicant the rent allowance
to which he is entitled, since the day on which it ceased to
be paid to him, together with compensatory interest calcu-
lated at a rate two points above the central rate of the Euro-
pean Central Bank;

— Order the defendant to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicant, an official assigned to the Commission Repre-
sentation Office in London, received from 1 October 2002 a
rent allowance under Article 14a of Annex VII to the Staff
Regulations
and Regulation No 6/66/Euratom and No
121/66/EEC (1). That article was repealed when the Staff Regu-
lations were reformed and so the Commission, by decision of 2
May 2005, withdrew that allowance from the applicant.

In support of his action, the applicant first alleges the infringe-
ment of Article 62 of the Staff Regulations and Article 19 of
Annex XIII thereto. He points out, in particular, that the defen-
dant was wrong to apply the latter article in accordance with
the interpretation adopted by the Heads of Administration on
14 October 2004, which excludes the rent allowance from the
remuneration covered by the transitional measures laid down
in that article. Such an interpretation is unlawful, inasmuch as
it reduces the scope of the net income guarantee referred to by
the provision in question.

In addition, the applicant contends that the contested decision
infringes the principle of the equivalent purchasing power of
officials, as prescribed by Articles 64 and 65 of the Staff Regu-
lations.

Parties

Applicants: Holger Larsen (London, United Kingdom) and
Others (represented by: S. Orlandi, A. Coolen, J.-N. Louis, E.
Marchal, lawyers)

(1) Regulation No 6/66/Euratom, 121/66/EEC of the Councils of 28
July 1966 laying down the list of places for which a rent allowance
may be granted, the maximum amount of that allowance and the
rules for granting it, OJ, English Special Edition 1965-6 (1), p. 212.