CELEX: C1998/007/51
Language: en
Date: 1998-01-10 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 2 June 1997 by Michaël Tavernier against the European Court of Auditors (Case T-170/97)

10. 1. 98             EN                Official Journal of the European Communities                                   C 7/15
in Luxembourg at the Chambers of ReneÂ Faltz, 6 rue                               ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT
Heinrich Heine, v. Commission of the European                               OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
Communities (Agents: Blanca VilaÂ Costa and Hubert van                                   of 8 October 1997
Vliet) Ð application for payment of the whole of the sum
charged for the transportation of free supplies of fruit           in Case T-229/97 R: ComiteÂ EuropeÂen des Fabricants de
juice and fruit jams intended for the peoples of Armenia                 Sucre (CEFS) v. Council of the European Union
and Azerbaijan Ð the Court of First Instance (Third                (Sugar Ð Common organization of the markets Ð Fixing
Chamber), composed of B. Vesterdorf, President, and C. P.          of intervention prices Ð Interim measures procedure Ð
BrieÈt and A. Potocki, Judges; H. Jung, Registrar, made an                            Suspension of operation)
order on 3 October 1997, the operative part of which is
as follows:                                                                                  (98/C 7/50)
1. The application          is  dismissed   as    manifestly                      (Language of the case: English)
     inadmissible.
                                                                   In Case T-229/97 R: ComiteÂ EuropeÂen des Fabricants de
2. The applicant is ordered to pay the costs.                      Sucre (CEFS), established in Brussels, represented by
                                                                   Bernard O'Connor, Solicitor, and Bonifacio García Porras,
(1) OJ C 26, 25. 1. 1997.                                          of the Salamanca Bar, with an address for service in
                                                                   Luxembourg at the Chambers of ArseÁne Kronshagen, 12,
                                                                   boulevard de la Foire, against Council of the European
                                                                   Union (Agents: Jan-Peter Hix and Ignacio Díez Parra),
                                                                   supported by Commission of the European Communities
                                                                   (Agents: James MacDonald Flett and Xavier Lewis) Ð
               ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT                              application pursuant to Articles 185 and 186 of the EC
         OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE                            Treaty for suspension of the operation of Article 1 (f) of
                                                                   Council Regulation (EC) No 1188/97 of 25 June 1997
                     of 26 September 1997                          fixing, for the 1997/98 marketing year, the derived
in Case T-183/97 R: Carla Micheli and others v.                    intervention prices for white sugar, the intervention price
         Commission of the European Communities                    for raw sugar, the minimum prices for A and B beet, and
                                                                   the amount of compensation for storage costs (1), in so far
(Community technological research and development
                                                                   as it affects European sugar producers or otherwise erga
policy Ð MAST III programme Ð Decision establishing
                                                                   omnes, and for all other such interim measures as the
the list of proposed actions eligible for a Community
                                                                   Court should judge necessary Ð the President of the
contribution Ð Procedure for interim relief Ð Application
                                                                   Court of First Instance has made an order on 8 October
         for suspension of operation of a measure)
                                                                   1997, the operative part of which is as follows:
                          (98/C 7/49)
                                                                   1. The Commission is granted leave to intervene in
               (Language of the case: Italian)                         support of the form of order sought by the Council.
In Case T-183/97 R: Carla Micheli, Andrea Peirano, Carlo           2. The application for interim relief is dismissed.
Nike Bianchi and Marinella Abbate, researchers at the
Ente per le Nuove Tecnologie, l'Energia e l'Ambiente
(ENEA Ð Centre for Research into New Technologies,                 3. Costs are reserved.
Energy and the Environment), established in Rome,
represented by Wilma Viscardini DonaÁ, Mariano Paolin              (1) OJ L 170, 28. 6. 1997, p. 3.
and Simonetta DonaÁ, of the Padua Bar, with an address
for service in Luxembourg at the Chambers of Ernest
Arendt, 39, rue Mathias Hardt, v. Commission of the
European Communities (Agents: Eugenio de March and
Alberto Dal Ferro) Ð application for suspension of
operation, either wholly or in part, of the decision of the        Action brought on 2 June 1997 by MichaeÈl Tavernier
Commission of 26 March 1997 establishing the main list                       against the European Court of Auditors
and the reserve list of proposed actions eligible for a                                    (Case T-170/97)
Community contribution under the MAST III programme
and, consequently, for suspension of operation of the                                        (98/C 7/51)
decision excluding the Posible programme Ð the President
of the Court of First Instance made an order on                                   (Language of the case: French)
26 September 1997, the operative part of which is as
follows:                                                           An action against the European Court of Auditors was
                                                                   brought before the Court of First Instance of the European
1. The application for interim measures is dismissed.              Communities on 2 June 1997 by MichaeÈl Tavernier,
                                                                   residing in Lintgen (Luxembourg), represented by Jean-
2. The costs are reserved.                                         NoeÈl Louis, Thierry Demaseure and Ariane Tornel, of the
                                                                   Brussels Bar, with an address for service in Luxembourg at
                                                                   Fiduciaire Myson SARL, 30, rue de Cessange.
 ---pagebreak--- C 7/16               EN                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                 10. 1. 98
The applicant claims that the Court should:                             retroactively for a period of six months, pursuant to
                                                                        the new, disputed weighting,
Ð annul the decision of the selection board not to admit
     the applicant to the oral test of internal competition
                                                                   Ð order the Commission to repay to the applicants the
     CC/B/7/95,
                                                                        curtailment of salary imposed on them by it with
                                                                        effect from May 1996 on the basis of the new,
Ð order the defendant to pay the costs.                                 disputed weighting;
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
                                                                   Ð order the Commission to pay the costs.
The applicant, a former temporary member of staff, relies,
first, on a breach of the principle of equal treatment of          Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
candidates and of the rules which govern the functioning
of the selection board, for the manner in which multiple
choice written tests are carried out does not ensure that          The applicants, all of whom work as officials of the
candidates are treated equally, or the objectivity of the          Commission Delegation in Tokyo or as temporary
choice of candidate made by the board.                             members of staff at the Iter Eda Centre, Naka Joint Work
                                                                   Site, Naka, object to the application to them of the
Secondly, he relies on a breach of the obligation to state         weightings fixed by Council Regulations (Euratom, ECSC,
reasons, since the board ought to have forwarded to the            EC) No 577/96, (Euratom, ECSC, EC) No 578/96 and
applicant a statement of reasons for the contested decision        (Euratom, ECSC, EC) No 579/96 laying down the
as required by Community case-law. The appointing                  weightings applicable from 1 July 1994, 1 January 1995
authority should also have verified whether the two                and 1 July 1996 respectively to the remuneration of
disputed written tests were properly administered and              officials of the European Communities serving in third
informed the applicant of the result of its investigation.         countries (1). So far as concerns Japan, those Regulations
                                                                   gave rise to an appreciable reduction of the weighting
                                                                   which fell from 214,11 points, applicable from 1 January
                                                                   1994 and still applicable in May 1996, to 179,87 points
                                                                   as from 1 July 1994, 180,24 points as from 1 January
                                                                   1995 and 186,80 points as from 1 July 1995, that is to
                                                                   say, a drop of 16 % between 1 January 1994 and 1 June
Action brought on 11 June 1997 by Bernard Bareyt and
                                                                   of that year.
Others against the Commission of the European
                        Communities
                      (Case T-175/97)                              The applicants consider that those new weightings were
                                                                   adopted in breach of the detailed rules laid down in
                         (98/C 7/52)
                                                                   Article 13 of Annex X of the Staff Regulations, inasmuch
                                                                   as the Commission failed to submit, every six months, to
               (Language of the case: French)                      the Council the proposals for new weightings and the
                                                                   Council did not observe the one- or two-month time limit
An action against the Commission of the European                   for the adoption of new weightings. Likewise, the
Communities was brought before the Court of First                  Commission did not use its power of initiative to adopt,
Instance of the European Communities on 11 June 1997               of its own motion, new weightings in the event of a
by Bernard Bareyt, residing in Naka (Japan), Ivone                 variation in excess of 5 %; whereas from June to July
Benfatto, Denis Bessette, Pier Luigi Bruzzone, Giuliano            1994 the weightings in respect of Japan were reduced, on
Dalle Carbonare, Enrico Di Pietro, Barry John Green,               a proposal of the Commission, by 20,36 % for Tokyo and
Remmelt Haange, Ronald Hemsworth, Michel Huguet,                   47,15 % for Naka.
Marcus Iseli, Neil Mitchell, Pier Luigi Mondino, Alfredo
Portone, Carlo Sborchia, Alessandro Tesini, Mike Michael
Wykes, all residing in Naka (Japan), and Michel Dupon,             In the applicants' view, the Court should also find a
residing in Tokyo (Japan), represented by Nicolas LhoeÈst,         manifest error of assessment. The contested Regulations
of the Brussels Bar, with an address for service in                represent, with regard to Japan, a reduction of 14,02 %
Luxembourg at Fiduciaire Myson SARL, 30, rue de                    between the economic parity of January and that of June
Cessange.                                                          1994. However, it cannot be imagined that the cost of
                                                                   living in Japan could have fallen by the same extent
The applicants claim that the Court should:                        between those two months. Rather, Japan's cost of living
                                                                   is practically the highest in the world, a trend which is
                                                                   more marked every year.
Ð declare Regulations (Euratom, ECSC, EC) No 577/96,
     (Euratom, ECSC, EC) No 578/96 and (Euratom,
     ECSC, EC) No 579/96 adopted by the Council of the             So far as concerns recovery of the overpayment in respect
     Union on proposal of the Commission on 25 March               of the remunerations affected by the Regulations in
     1996 to be inapplicable,                                      question as a result of the retroactive effect thereof, the
                                                                   applicants claim, first, that Article 13 of Annex X of the
Ð order the Commission to repay to the applicants the              Staff Regulations does not provide for any retroactivity for
     salary which it withheld from them in June 1996               the application of new weightings. On the contrary, it is