Case T-623/24: Action brought on 2 December 2024 – Bardella and Others v Parliament
Date: 2024-12-02
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: EP delegation, Member of the European Parliament, equal treatment, legislative period, parliamentary session, political discrimination, political group (EP), rules of procedure, transparency in decision-making




C_202501434EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/1434


10.3.2025






             (*1)


Action brought on 2 December 2024 – Bardella and Others v Parliament


(Case T-623/24)

(C/2025/1434)
Language of the case: French

Parties


Applicants: Jordan Bardella (XX (*2)) and 15 other applicants (represented by: A. Fulmini, lawyer)

Defendant: European Parliament

Form of order sought

The applicants claim that the Court should:






—


declare the present application admissible;










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declare that the European Parliament, through its President, is accountable for all decisions, acts and failures to act on the part of its bodies, inter alia the Conference of Group Presidents, delegations, committees and any other decision-making body;










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declare that all decisions and failures to act concerning the adoption and enforcement of the so-called ‘
                  cordon sanitaire
                  ’ are contrary to the standards and principles of the European Union mentioned herein;










—


declare that the failure of the Presidency of the European Parliament to observe the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament is tantamount to a breach of its obligation to achieve a result and the obligation to use best endeavours, resulting in a breach of the abovementioned rules and principles;










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annul all the decisions of the parliamentary delegations of the European Parliament taken on the occasion of the inaugural sessions of the opening of the Tenth Legislature (2024-2029), which took place on 30 September 2024 and thereafter, which elected the bureau of each delegation by various voting systems, involving unlawful prior acts and an unlawful, non-transparent procedure not provided for by the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, automatically excluding any candidate from the Patriots for Europe Group (Patriots), 3rd Group of the European Parliament, (inter alia in the parliamentary delegations with the United States, South Africa, Israel, Turkey, Serbia, the Andean Community, the Arabian Peninsula, South-East Asia -ASEAN, China, the Pacific, India, Africa, Chile, Latin America, PA UfM (DMED), and the Euronest Political Committee), contrary to the decisions taken at the meetings of the Coordinators of Political Groups on 8 and 9 July 2024 and of the Conference of Group Presidents on 11 and 12 July 2024, and in breach of Articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, Article 10(1), (2) and (4), Article 13(2), and Article 14(1) and (2) TEU, Article 12(2), and Articles 21 and 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Article 2 of the Statute for Members of the European Parliament (SMEP), Article 6 of the Act concerning the election of representatives of the Assembly by direct universal suffrage of 20 September 1976, Rule 2, Rule 10(1) and (9), Rule 22(1), (2) and (4), Rule 26(3), Rule 27(1), (2) and (7), Rule 34(2), Rule 40(1), Rule 124, Rule 216(1), (2) and (3), Rule 219(1), and Rule 229(3) of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, and Article 1 of the Code of Conduct for Members of the European Parliament;










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obtain the annulment of the decision of 27 November 2024 to appoint eight (8), and not nine (9) representatives of the European Parliament, as decided by the Conference of Presidents of 19 November 2024, to the Board of Governors of the European Endowment for Democracy (EED), for the aforementioned defects;










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and order the European Parliament to pay the costs of the present proceedings, which the applicants will specify in the course of the proceedings.





Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of the action, the applicants rely on four pleas in law.






1.


First plea in law, alleging breach, by any act and/or failure to act, of the provisions of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, in particular the obligation to achieve a result as provided for in Rule 219(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, to which Rule 229 refers: the representatives of all the political groups must be members of the bureaux of the delegations, the number of which must be determined proportionally according to the d’Hondt rule.










2.


Second plea in law, alleging breach, by any act and/or failure to act, of the obligations of the President of the European Parliament to ensure compliance with its Rules of Procedure, and in particular compliance with the powers and obligations of the Presidency itself and of the Conference of Group Presidents.










3.


Third plea in law, alleging breach, by any act and/or failure to act, of the principle of non-discrimination among Members of the European Parliament, as well as the principle of non-discrimination among European citizens, on the basis of political opinions.










4.


Fourth plea in law, alleging infringement, by any act and/or failure to act, of the right to the full and free exercise of the mandate and political prerogatives of Members of the European Parliament.






(*1)  For reasons of protection of personal data and/or confidentiality, some information contained in this issue cannot be disclosed anymore and therefore a new authentic version has been published.

(*2)  Information erased or replaced within the framework of protection of personal data and/or confidentiality.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/1434/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)