CELEX: C2007/069/50
Language: en
Date: 2007-03-24 00:00:00
Title: Case T-20/07 P: Appeal brought on 26 January 2007 by the European Commission against the judgment of the Civil Service Tribunal delivered on 14 November 2006 in Case F-100/05 Chatziioannidou v Commission

24.3.2007   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 69/22
            
         Appeal brought on 26 January 2007 by the European Commission against the judgment of the Civil Service Tribunal delivered on 14 November 2006 in Case F-100/05 Chatziioannidou v Commission
   
   (Case T-20/07 P)
   (2007/C 69/50)
   Language of the case: French
   Parties
   
      Appellant: Commission of the European Communities (Brussels, Belgium), (represented by K. Hermann and D. Martin, Agents)
   
      Other party to the proceedings: Eleni Chatziioannidou (Auderghem, Belgium)
   Form of order sought by the appellant
   The appellant claims that the Court should:
   
               —
            
            
               set aside the judgment of the Civil Service Tribunal of 14 November 2006 in Case F-100/05;
            
         
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               dismiss the action brought by Mrs Chatziioannidou;
            
         
               —
            
            
               order that the parties shall bear their own costs of these proceedings and of those before the European Union Civil Service Tribunal.
            
         Pleas in law and main arguments
   By the judgment of 14 November 2006, the setting-aside of which is claimed in the present appeal, the Civil Service Tribunal (CST) annulled the Commission's decisions of 30 November 2004 and 20 February 2005 calculating the applicant's years of pensionable service following the transfer to the Community scheme of the actuarial equivalent of the pension rights she had acquired in Greece.
   In support of the application to set aside the judgment, the Commission raises a single ground of appeal alleging infringement of Regulations No 1103/97 (1) and No 974/98 (2) and of the GIP of Article 11 of Annex VIII (3). The Commission submits that the premiss on which the CST's reasoning is entirely based, arises from an erroneous interpretation of the scope of Regulation No 1103/97. The Commission maintains that, contrary to the CST's finding, the purpose of the regulation in question is the maintenance of contractual commitments undertaken by private parties and not those undertaken by public bodies. It argues also that, in any case, that statement is irrelevant to these proceedings on the ground that the Commission had undertaken no commitment in respect of Mrs Chatziioannidou at the date of the entry into effect of the euro and, therefore, the principle of continuity of contracts stated in Article 3 of Regulation No 1103/97 was not, in law, applicable to this case. On the contrary, Regulation No 974/98, above all Article 14 thereof, should, in the Commission's submission, be applied in this case and the GIP should be read in the light thereof. Consequently, in the case of a transfer, after the introduction of the euro, of pension rights acquired in Greece, a country which had adopted the euro, the provision of Article 4(4) of the GIP laying down the detailed rules for the conversion into euros of amounts transferred in a currency other than the euro, is not applicable. The Commission also claims that, contrary to the CST's decision, because of the sharing of the powers under Article 11(2) of Annex VIII to the Staff Regulations between the Commission and the national authorities, Mrs Chatziioannidou could not complain of the Commission's method of calculating the amount of the actuarial equivalent transferred to the Commission by the Greek authorities because they alone had the power to select an appropriate method, the Greek authorities having already transferred to the Communities' account an amount already denominated in euros.
   
      (1)  Council Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 of 17 June 1997 on certain provisions relating to the euro (OJ 1997 L 162, p. 1).
   
      (2)  Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 of 3 May 1998 on the euro (OJ 1998 L 139, p. 1).
   
      (3)  General Implementing Provisions of Articles 11 and 12 of Annex VIII to the Staff Regulations, as amended by Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 723/2004 of 22 March 2004 (OJ 2004 L 124, p. 1).