Case T-1047/23: Judgment of the General Court of 1 October 2025 – AF v Council (Civil service – Officials – Administrative investigation – Annex IX to the Staff Regulations – Disciplinary proceedings without consultation of the Disciplinary Board – Warning – Principle of impartiality – Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 – Protection of personal data – Reimbursement of costs – Article 21 of Annex IX to the Staff Regulations – Liability – Non-material damage)
Date: 2025-10-01
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: European official, administrative sanction, data protection, disciplinary proceedings, indemnification, legal expenses, personal data, staff regulations (EU)








C_202505955EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/5955


17.11.2025






Judgment of the General Court of 1 October 2025 – AF v Council


(Case T-1047/23)
                (1)

(Civil service - Officials - Administrative investigation - Annex IX to the Staff Regulations - Disciplinary proceedings without consultation of the Disciplinary Board - Warning - Principle of impartiality - Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 - Protection of personal data - Reimbursement of costs - Article 21 of Annex IX to the Staff Regulations - Liability - Non-material damage)
(C/2025/5955)
Language of the case: English

Parties


Applicant: AF (represented by: A. Guillerme and F. Patuelli, lawyers)

Defendant: Council of the European Union (represented by: M. Bauer and I. Demoulin, acting as Agents)

Re:

By her action under Article 270 TFEU, the applicant, seeks, first, annulment of (i) the decision of 16 December 2022, by which the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union (‘the GSC’) addressed a warning to her pursuant to Article 3(1)(b) of Annex IX to the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union (‘the Staff Regulations’) and (ii) the GSC’s decision of 6 February 2023 refusing, pursuant to Article 21 of Annex IX to the Staff Regulations, reimbursement of the legal costs that she had incurred, and, secondly, compensation for the non-material and material damage which she claims to have suffered as a result of those decisions.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Annuls the decision of the European Council of 16 December 2022 addressing a warning under Article 3(1)(b) of Annex IX to the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union to AF;










2.


Annuls the decision of the European Council of 6 February 2023 refusing to reimburse AF for representation costs incurred in the course of the disciplinary proceedings;










3.


Orders the Council to pay AF the amount of EUR 2 413,95 and default interest on that amount from the date of delivery of the present judgment until full payment, default interest being fixed at the interest rate applied by the European Central Bank (ECB) for its main refinancing operations and in force on the first day of the month in which payment is due, increased by three and a half percentage points;










4.


Orders the Council to pay the amount of EUR 5 000 as compensation for the non-material damage suffered by AF;










5.


Orders the Council to pay the costs.






(1)  
            OJ C, C/2024/423, 3.1.2024.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/5955/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)