CELEX: C2000/372/34
Language: en
Date: 2000-12-23 00:00:00
Title: Case T-338/00: Action brought on 7 November 2000 by Carmelo Morello against the Commission of the European Communities

23.12.2000             EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                      C 372/17
—     order the Commission to pay FRF 1 604 735 241                      Action brought on 7 November 2000 by Carmelo Morello
      (EUR 24 463 867) by way of damages for the harm                      against the Commission of the European Communities
      suffered by Rougemarine as a result of such discrimi-
      nation;
                                                                                                 (Case T-338/00)
—     order the Commission to pay the costs.                                                     (2000/C 372/34)
                                                                                            (Language of the case: French)
Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                         An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
                                                                         ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
The applicant in the present case is an audiovisual production           European Communities on 7 November 2000 by Carmelo
undertaking belonging to the RCS in Paris whose managing                 Morello, residing in Brussels, represented by Jacques Sambon
director and majority shareholder is a Tunisian national.                and Pierre Paul Van Gehuchten, of the Brussels Bar.
                                                                         The applicant claims that the Court should:
The action seeks the annulment of the decision of the
Commission of 5 September 2000 which refused the applicant               —     annul the Commission’s decision appointing another
the financial support which it had requested in the context of                 official to post COM/113/99 IV/F/2 ‘Motor vehicles
the MEDIA II programme, the objective of which is, among                       and other means of transport’, corresponding to a
others, to encourage the development and distribution of                       grade A5/A4 post of Head of Unit;
European audiovisual works pursuant to Council Decision
95/563/EC of 10 July 1995 on the implementation of a
programme encouraging the development and distribution of                —     annul the Commission’s decision rejecting the application
European audiovisual works (Media II — Development and                         of the applicant for that post;
distribution) (1996-2000). (1)
                                                                         —     award the sum of 120 000 euro, subject to increase or
                                                                               decrease during the course of the proceedings, by way of
In support of its claims, the applicant undertaking states, first,             compensation for the non-material damage suffered by
that the contested decision, which is based on the fourth                      the applicant as a result of the irregular or incomplete
paragraph of Article 3 of Council Decision 95/563/EC, cited                    information gathered by the defendant in relation to the
above, is unlawful, in that it discriminates between European                  applicant’s personal file and the state of uncertainty and
audiovisual production undertakings on the basis of the                        worry in which he has been placed with regard to his
nationality of its managing directors, which is contrary to                    future career;
Article 12 of the EC Treaty. In fact, according to the fourth
paragraph of Article 3, the businesses benefitting from the              —     award the sum of 25 000 euro, subject to increase or
programme must be in the possession and continue to be in                      decrease during the course of the proceedings, by way of
the possession, whether directly, or by majority participation,                compensation for the material damage suffered by the
of the Member States and/or of nationals from Member States.                   applicant as a result of his having been rejected as a
That provision is also contrary to the principle of equality, as               candidate for the post to be filled and of his having thus
laid down in the case-law of the Court of Justice. The applicant               lost an opportunity of promotion;
considers, in that respect, that the differentiation criterion used
is not objectively justified.
                                                                         —     order the Commission to pay all the costs.
Additionally, the applicant undertaking requests, on the basis
of Article 241 of the Treaty, that Council Decision 95/563/EC            Pleas in law and main arguments
be declared unlawful.
                                                                         The pleas in law and main arguments are similar to those in
                                                                         Cases T-135/00 and T-136/00 Morello v Commission (1).
(1) OJ 1995 L 321, p. 25.
                                                                         (1) OJ C 211, 22.7.2000, pp. 23 and 24.