Cases T-435/23 and T-224/24: Judgment of the General Court of 10 September 2025 – YL v Council and EUIPO (Civil service – Members of the temporary staff – Decision of the Management Board of EUIPO not to submit to the Council a proposal for extension of the applicant’s term of office – Decision of the Council not to extend the applicant’s term of office – Right to be heard – Obligation to state reasons – Manifest error of assessment – Liability)
Date: 2025-09-10
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: indemnification, managing director, rights of the defence, servant (EU), temporary employment, termination of employment








C_202505693EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/5693


3.11.2025






Judgment of the General Court of 10 September 2025 – YL v Council and EUIPO


(Cases T-435/23 and T-224/24)
                (1)

(Civil service - Members of the temporary staff - Decision of the Management Board of EUIPO not to submit to the Council a proposal for extension of the applicant’s term of office - Decision of the Council not to extend the applicant’s term of office - Right to be heard - Obligation to state reasons - Manifest error of assessment - Liability)
(C/2025/5693)
Language of the case: English

Parties


Applicant in Cases T-435/23 and T-224/24: YL (represented by: A. Guillerme, T. Bontinck and L. Bouchet, lawyers)

Defendant in Cases T-435/23 and T-224/24: Council of the European Union (represented by: M. Bauer and A. L. Meyer, acting as Agents)

Defendant in Case T-435/23: European Union Intellectual Property Office (represented by A. Lukošiūtė, E. Lekan and G. Bertoli, acting as Agents)

Interveners in support of the defendant in Case T-435/23: Republic of Latvia (represented by: K. Pommere and J. Davidoviča, acting as Agents), Republic of Poland (represented by: B. Majczyna and M. Horoszko, acting as Agents), Portuguese Republic (represented by: A. Pimenta, P. Barros da Costa, M. Ramos and V. Couto, acting as Agents), Slovak Republic (represented by: E. Larišová and A. Lukáčik, acting as Agents)

Interveners in support of the defendant in Case T-435/23: Republic of Poland (represented by: B. Majczyna and M. Horoszko), Slovak Republic (represented by: E. Larišová and A. Lukáčik)

Re:

By his action in Case T-435/23, on the basis of Article 270 TFEU, the applicant seeks, in the first place, the annulment (i) of a number of decisions taken by the Management Board of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) on 22 November 2022, namely that not to submit to the Council of the European Union a proposal for the extension of his term of office as Executive Director of EUIPO, and those to launch the selection procedure for the post of Executive Director, including the procedural steps and indicative timeline for that selection procedure, (ii) the decision taken by the EUIPO Management Board on 6 March 2023 temporarily to suspend the applicant’s powers as the Appointing Authority and the Authority Empowered to Conclude Contracts of Employment and (iii) the decision of the Council not to extend his term of office, as reflected in the letter of 30 May 2023 from the President of the Council to the Chairperson of the EUIPO Management Board, and, in the second place, compensation in respect of the material and non-material harm which he claims to have suffered.
By his action in Case T-224/24, on the basis of Article 270 TFEU, the applicant seeks annulment of the decision not to extend the term of office and compensation in respect of the material and non-material harm he claims to have suffered as a result of that decision.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Joins Cases T-435/23 and T-224/24 for the purposes of the judgment;










2.


Annuls Decision MB-23-04 of the Management Board of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of 6 March 2023 in so far as it temporarily suspends YL’s powers as the Appointing Authority and the Authority Empowered to Conclude Contracts of Employment;










3.


Annuls the decision of the Council of the European Union not to extend the term of office of YL as Executive Director of EUIPO, as reflected in the letter of 30 May 2023 from the President of the Council to the Chairperson of the EUIPO Management Board;










4.


Orders the Council to pay YL a sum of EUR 25 000, together with default interest accruing as of the date of delivery of the present judgment and until the date of payment of the total sum due, at a rate equal to that applied by the European Central Bank (ECB) to its main refinancing operations in force on the first day of the month in which payment falls due, increased by three and a half percentage points;










5.


Dismisses the actions as to the remainder;










6.


Orders EUIPO to bear its own costs and to pay those of YL in Case T-435/23;










7.


Orders the Council to bear its own costs in Cases T-435/23 and T-224/24 and to pay those of YL in Case T-224/24;










8.


Orders the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Poland, the Portuguese Republic and the Slovak Republic to bear their own costs.






(1)  
            OJ C, C/2023/218, 23.10.2023.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/5693/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)