CELEX: C1997/212/63
Language: en
Date: 1997-07-12 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 26 May 1997 by Silvio Busacca and others against the Court of Auditors of the European Communities (Case T-164/97)

No C 212/32            EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                     12 . 7 . 97
2 . breachof the principle of legal certainty: the safeguard          — order the defendant to pay all the costs .
     measures is not sufficiently clear and precise for
     individuals to be able to ascertain their rights and
     duties;                                                          Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
3 . infringement of Article 133 ( 1 ) of the Treaty: customs          The applicants, who are officials of the Court of Auditors,
     duties on imports of goods from the OCT and charges              contest the fact that the arrangements for termination of
     having equivalent effect are to be completely                    service introduced by Council Regulation ( EC, Euratom,
     abolished;                                                       ECSC ) No 2688/95 H following the accession to the
                                                                      European Union of Austria, Finland and Sweden, in order
4 . infringement of Articles 132 ( 1 ) and 134 of the EC              to make it easier for nationals of those three new Member
     Treaty, in conjunction with Article 102 of the OCT               States to gain entry to the European civil service, are in
     Decision ;                                                       fact reserved exclusively for officials of the European
                                                                      Parliament.
5 . infringement of Article 7 ( 5 ) of the (WTO ) Agreement
     on Safeguards, together with Article 228 ( 7) of the EC
     Treaty;                                                          In support of their claims, they assert that Regulation ( EC,
                                                                      Euratom, ECSC ) No 2688/95 , cited above, is illegal . In
6 . infringement of Article 109 ( 1 ) of the OCT Decision;            their view, that regulation was adopted :
7. infringement of Article 109 ( 2 ) of the OCT Decision;             — in breach of Article 24 of the Treaty of 8 April 1965
                                                                           establishing a Single Council and a Single Commission
8 . breach of essential procedural requirements : failure to               of the European Communities (the 'Merger Treaty')
     comply with the rules of procedure of the Advisory                    and of the principle of a single European civil service,
     Committee on Safeguard Measures for the OCT;                          enshrined in Article C of the Treaty on European
                                                                           Union,
9 . infringement of Article 190 of the EC Treaty.
(') OJ No L 112 , 29 . 4 . 1997, p . 3 .                              — in disregard of the obligation to provide a statement of
                                                                           reasons, as laid down in Article 190 of the Treaty, of
                                                                           the requirement that the Staff Regulations Committee
                                                                           be consulted pursuant to Article 10 of the Staff
                                                                           Regulations of officials, and of Community legislative
                                                                           procedure . The applicants point out in that regard
Action brought on 26 May 1997 by Silvio Busacca and                        that, for the purposes of its enactment on the basis of
others against the Court of Auditors of the European                       Article 24 of the Merger Treaty, it was necessary for
                             Communities                                   the regulation in issue to be adopted by the Council
                                                                           acting by a qualified majority on a proposal from the
                          ( Case T-164/97)                                 Commission. However, under Article 189a of the
                             97/C 212/63                                   Treaty, the Council can adopt an act constituting an
                                                                           amendment to the Commission's proposal only if it
                (Language of the case: French)                             acts unanimously. In addition to the fact that the text
                                                                           finally adopted is substantially different from the
An action against the Court of Auditors of the European                    proposal submitted for consultation purposes to the
 Communities was brought before the Court of First                         institutions, the Council adopted that text on the basis
Instance of the European Communities on 26 May 1997                        of a qualified majority, whilst nevertheless referring, in
 by Silvio Busacca, residing in Luxembourg, Carlo Degli                    the preamble to the regulation, to the initial proposal
Abbati, residing in Luxembourg, Pamela Rattigan, residing                  made by the Commission,
 at Mamer ( Luxembourg ), Gisela Tremont, residing at
 Schrassig ( Luxembourg ) and Cecile Vandam, residing at
                                                                      — in breach of the principle of non-discrimination or
 Bousval ( Belgium), represented by Georges Vandersanden
 and Laure Levi, of the Brussels Bar, with an address for
                                                                           equality. As regards this point, the applicants consider
                                                                           that, as a result of the regulation in issue, officials in
 service in Luxembourg at the#offices of Fiduciaire Myson
                                                                            institutions other than the European Parliament are
 Sari, 30 Rue de Cessange .
                                                                            being discriminated against, both in fact and in law,
                                                                            by comparison with officials of the Parliament. That
 The applicants claims that the Court should :                              discrimination appears all the more flagrant having
                                                                            regard to the fact that, in order to benefit from the
 — annul the decision taken by the appointing authority                     effects of Regulation ( EC, Euratom, ECSC ) No 2688/
      in respect of each of the applicants on 16 September                  95 , all that any of the applicants need do is to procure
      1996 , rejecting their requests lodged on 22 August                   a transfer to the European Parliament.
      1996, 29 August 1996, 22 August 1996, 23 August
      1996 and 28 August 1996 respectively, and annul, in
      so far as may be necessary, the decision dated                   Lastly, the applicants consider that a regulation vitiated by
      28 February 1997 expressly rejecting the complaints              all the defects indicated above cannot have been adopted
      submitted by each of the applicants,                             for the purposes for which Community legislative powers
 ---pagebreak--- 12. 7. 97             I ENM                   Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 212/33
have been conferred on the Council . Consequently, the                              Removal from the register of T-99/96 (')
abovementioned respects in which it is claimed to be                                                 ( 97/C 212/64 )
illegal are indicative of a misuse of powers .
                                                                                         (Language of the case: French)
(') Council Regulation ( EC, Euratom, ECSC) No 2688/95 of                By order of 13 May 1997 the President of the Fourth
    17 November 1995 introducing special measures to terminate           Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the European
    the service of officials of the European Communities as a
    result of the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden ( OJ No
                                                                         Communities has ordered the removal from the register of
    L 280, 23 . 11 . 1995 , p. 1 ).                                      Case T-99/96 : Franz Eppe v. Commission of the European
                                                                         Communities .
                                                                         ( 1 ) OJ No C 269, 14 . 9 . 1996 .