Case T-653/25: Action brought on 15 September 2025 – MS and Others v Council
Date: 2025-09-15
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: Bulgaria, abuse of power, conversion rate, economic convergence, euro, national currency, participating country (euro area), principle of legal certainty, principle of proportionality, principle of subsidiarity








C_202506630EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/6630


22.12.2025






Action brought on 15 September 2025 – MS and Others v Council


(Case T-653/25)

(C/2025/6630)
Language of the case: Bulgarian

Parties


Applicants: MS and 12 other applicants (represented by: P. Chenalova, lawyer)

Defendant: Council of the European Union

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should annul:






—


Council Decision (EU) 2025/1407 of 8 July 2025 on the adoption by Bulgaria of the euro on 1 January 2026, (1)











—


Council Regulation (EU) 2025/1408 of 8 July 2025 amending Regulation (EC) No 974/98 as regards the introduction of the euro in Bulgaria (2) and










—


Council Regulation (EU) 2025/1409 of 8 July 2025 amending Regulation (EC) No 2866/98 as regards the conversion rate to the euro for Bulgaria. (3)






Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of the action, the applicant relies on the following pleas in law.






1.


First plea in law: the three contested acts were adopted in breach of the Treaties (Article 338(2) and Article 140 TFEU) and the legal rules relating to the implementation of those Treaties (Protocol No 13 on the convergence criteria, Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics, (4) Regulation (EU) 2016/792 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on harmonised indices of consumer prices and the house price index, (5) Commission Implementing Regulation (ЕU) 2020/1148, (6) the European Statistics Code of Practice).
When discussing the convergence reports, the Council of the EU took a formal approach, ignoring the findings of deepening negative trends and the data on manipulation of the statistical basis used to determine the rate of inflation. The assessment that Bulgaria fulfils the convergence requirements contradicts the statistical data on the HICP, price dynamics indicators, fiscal indicators and ECB forecasts.










2.


Second plea in law: the three contested acts were adopted in breach of substantial procedural requirements.
The acts are not substantiated; the principles of legal certainty and protection of legitimate expectations, proportionality, sincere cooperation, democracy and transparency, good administration and subsidiarity have been infringed; institutional balance and democratic principles have been infringed.










3.


Third plea in law: abuse of powers.
In adopting the contested acts – the decision and the regulations, the Council has infringed its obligation to conduct a careful and impartial review. The Council failed to fulfil its obligations of due care, objectivity and transparency by failing to carry out or commission a check on the accuracy of the statistical data in respect of reports of manipulation and inaccuracy.






(1)  OJ L, 2025/1407.

(2)  OJ L, 2025/1408.

(3)  OJ L, 2025/1409.

(4)  Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics and repealing Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1101/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community Statistics, and Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom establishing a Committee on the Statistical Programmes of the European Communities (OJ L 87 2009, р. 164).

(5)  Regulation (EU) 2016/792 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on harmonised indices of consumer prices and the house price index, and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 2494/95 (OJ 2016 L 135, р. 11).

(6)  Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1148 of 31 July 2020 laying down the methodological and technical specifications in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/792 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards harmonised indices of consumer prices and the house price index (ОJ 2020 L 252, р. 12).


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/6630/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)