Case C-316/19: Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 17 December 2020 — European Commission v Republic of Slovenia (Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Article 343 TFUE — Privileges and immunities of the European Union — Statute of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and of the European Central Bank (ECB) — Article 39 — Privileges and immunities of the ECB — Protocol on the privileges and immunities of the European Union — Articles 2, 18 and 22 — Principle of the inviolability of the archives of the ECB — Seizure of documents at the premises of the Central Bank of Slovenia — Documents connected to the performance of the tasks of the ESCB and of the Eurosystem — Article 4(3) TEU — Principle of sincere cooperation)
Date: 2020-12-17
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Central Bank, Eurosystem, Protocol (EU), archives, central bank, document, infringement of EU law, institutional cooperation








C_2021053EN.01000601.xml










15.2.2021   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 53/6






Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 17 December 2020 — European Commission v Republic of Slovenia
(Case C-316/19) (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations - Article 343 TFUE - Privileges and immunities of the European Union - Statute of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and of the European Central Bank (ECB) - Article 39 - Privileges and immunities of the ECB - Protocol on the privileges and immunities of the European Union - Articles 2, 18 and 22 - Principle of the inviolability of the archives of the ECB - Seizure of documents at the premises of the Central Bank of Slovenia - Documents connected to the performance of the tasks of the ESCB and of the Eurosystem - Article 4(3) TEU - Principle of sincere cooperation)
(2021/C 53/06)
Language of the case: Slovenian

Parties


Applicant: European Commission (represented by: L. Flynn and B. Rous Demiri, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Republic of Slovenia (represented by: V. Klemenc, A. Grum, N. Pintar Gosenca and K. Rejec Longar, acting as Agents)

Intervener in support of the applicant: European Central Bank (ECB) (represented by: K. Kaiser, C. Zilioli, F. Malfrère and A. Šega, acting as Agents, and by D. Sarmiento Ramírez-Escudero, abogado)

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Declares that, by unilaterally seizing at the premises of the Banka Slovenije (Central Bank of Slovenia) documents connected to the performance of the tasks of the European System of Central Banks and of the Eurosystem and, as regards the period after that seizure, by failing to cooperate sincerely with the European Central Bank on that matter, the Republic of Slovenia has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 343 TFEU, Article 39 of Protocol (No 4) on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, Articles 2, 18 and 22 of Protocol (No 7) on the privileges and immunities of the European Union and Article 4(3) TEU;










2.


Orders the Republic of Slovenia, in addition to bearing its own costs, to pay those of the European Commission;










3.


Declares that the European Central Bank is to bear its own costs.






(1)  OJ C 187, 3.6.2019.