CELEX: C1997/181/30
Language: en
Date: 1997-06-14 00:00:00
Title: Action brought in the Court of Justice on 25 February 1997 by the Region of Wallonia against the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-70/97)

14 . 6 . 97             EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                    No C 181 / 15
Action brought on 10 February 1997 by 'C' against the                  Court of Justice of 21 March 1997, by the Region of
          Commission of the European Communities                       Wallonia, established at Jambes ( Belgium ), represented by
                         ( Case T-27/97 )                              Jean-Marie De Backer, Georges Vandersanden and Olivier
                                                                       Ralet, of the Brussels Bar, with an address for service in
                           ( 97/C 181 /29 )
                                                                       Luxembourg at the offices of Fiduciaire Myson Sari , 30
                                                                       Rue de Cessange .
                (Language of the case: Spanish)
An action against the Commission of the European                       The applicant claims that the Court should :
Communities was brought before the Court of First
Instance of the European Communities on 10 February                    — annul decision No C 43/96 of the Commission of
1997 by ' C', represented by Valeriano Hernandez Martin,                     18 December 1996 entitled 'Acier CECA — Forges de
of the Madrid Bar, of 2 Calle Conde de la Cimera ,                           Clabecq',
Madrid .
                                                                       — order the Commission to pay the costs.
The applicant claims that the Court should :
                                                                       Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
— declare wholly null and void or non-existent the
     decision of the appointing authority of the European
     Commission of 30 March 1992 , by which it accepted                In June 1996 the applicant, which held, through the
     the resignation tendered by 'C' and regarded the same             intermediary of the Societe Wallonne pour la Siderurgie
     as definitive,                                                    ( SWS ), a public limited liability company wholly owned
                                                                       by the Region of Wallonia, 30% of the representative
                                                                       shares in the capital of SA Forges de Clabecq, approved
— acknowledge the current status of the applicant as that
     of an official of the Commission, and either ( a ) order
                                                                       the decision of SWS to participate in the restructuring of
                                                                       the capital of the undertaking in the sum of Bfrs
     the payment to him of the remuneration earned but                 1 500 000 000 .
     not received by him since 1 April 1992 or ( b ) confirm
     that the invalidity pension to be granted to ' C' should
     take effect, following completion of the appropriate              The contested decision of the Commission states that that
     formalities, from 1 April 1992 ,                                  measure in favour of Forges de Clabecq constitutes aid
                                                                       which is incompatible with the common market within the
— order the Commission of the European Communities                     meaning of Article 1 ( 2 ) of Decision No 3855/91 /ECSC .
     to pay the costs .
                                                                       The applicant contests that decision, which already forms
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                    the subject-matter of two other applications ('), by
                                                                       pleading, first of all, a failure to have regard to
The applicant contests the acceptance by the appointing                fundamental rights. The Commission did not take
authority, on 30 March 1992, of the resignation tendered               account, in any way, of the effect which the
by him from his post as a grade LA 8 official of the                   characterization of the measures taken by SWS as illegal
Commission .                                                           aid within the meaning of the ECSC Treaty could have on
                                                                       the loss of the jobs of all of the employees of Forges de
The ground on which nullity is pleaded is that, because he             Clabecq and the deterioration of the social fabric of an
suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, the applicant did                entire region . The right to work constitutes a
not understand the significance of his actions at the time             constitutional tradition commonly recognized in all the
                                                                       Member States .
when he submitted his aforesaid resignation and thus
lacked the intention to be bound thereby. Consequently,
the act of resignation must be regarded as critically                  The applicant further complains that the Commission has
vitiated by the fact of its nullity or non-existence.                  disregarded general principles of law, such as the
                                                                       principles of equality of treatment and of proportionality,
                                                                       by applying competition law without taking any account
                                                                       of the economic and social consequences which that
                                                                       decision will have on a disadvantaged region in which
                                                                       there is already severe unemployment, and has violated
                                                                       the principle of the right to a fair hearing by refusing to
Action brought in the Court of Justice on 25 February                  discuss the matter with the applicant and its advisers.
1997 by the Region of Wallonia against the Commission
                 of the European Communities
                                                                       In addition, the applicant pleads infringement of
                         ( Case T-70/97)
                                                                       Article 4 ( c ) and Article 95 of the ECSC Treaty and
                           ( 97/C 181 /30 )                            various errors of reasoning, such as breach of the concept
                                                                       of public service .
                 (Language of the case: French)
                                                                       (') Case T-4/97 ( OJ No C 74 , 8 . 3 . 1997, p. 23 ); Case T-37/97
An action against the Commission of the European                           ( OJ No C 131 , 26 . 4 . 1997, p. 22 ).
Communities has been brought before the Court of First
Instance of the European Communities, by order of the