CELEX: C1996/077/28
Language: en
Date: 1996-03-16 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 9 September 1995 by Diego Echauz Brigaldi, José-Luís Buendía Sierra, César Montoliu García, María Jesús Ruíz Monroy, Carmen Ochoa de Michelena, Victoria Pagadigorria Wicke, Miguel Abellán López, Inmaculada Gil Tardón, Antonio García Velázquez, María Carmen Labrador Rubio, Carmen Casado Salinas, Diego González Marín, Eva María Rasines Martín, Julio Vizcarra Soriano and Leopoldo Fabra Utray against the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-156/95)

16 . 3 . 96           EN                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                   No C 77/ 11
Action brought on 9 September 1995 by Diego Echauz                  special leave and travelling time for elections, which it had
Brigaldi, José-Luís Buendía Sierra, César Montoliu García,          been granting to officials of Spanish nationality whose
María Jesús Ruiz Monroy, Carmen Ochoa de Michelena,                 official place of residence continues to be in Spain, in order
Victoria Pagadigorria Wicke, Miguel Abellán López,                  to go to exercise their constitutional right to vote at various
Inmaculada Gil Tardón, Antonio García Velázquez, María              elections .
Carmen      Labrador     Rubio,    Carmen    Casado     Salinas,
Diego González Marín, Eva María Rasines Martín,                     The applicant officials claim that, by not taking account of
Julio Vizcarra Soriano and Leopoldo Fabra Utray against             either the characteristics of Spanish electoral law or the
       the Commission of the European Communities                   relevant provisions of the Protocol on Privileges and
                       ( Case T-156/95 )                            Immunities of the European Communities, the Commission
                                                                    has committed a manifest error of assessment of the
                          ( 96/C 77/28 )                            facts .
               (Language of the case: Spanish)                      The applicants also allege that essential procedural
                                                                    requirements have been infringed inasmuch as the
                                                                    provisioins abolishing special leave and travelling time,
An action against the Commission of the European                    which constitutes the subject-matter of the dispute, were
Communities was brought before the Court of First                   approved only at the level of the Board of Heads of
Instance of the European Communities on 9 September                 Administration without following the concertation
1995 by Diego Echauz Brigaldi , Jose-Luis Buendía Sierra ,          procedure or consulting the Staff Regulations Committee, a
Cesar Montoliu Garcia, Maria Jesus Ruiz Monroy,                     body in which all the institutions are jointly represented by
Carmen Ochoa de Michelena , Victoria Pagadigorria Wicke,            their respective Staff Committees . That procedure was,
Miguel Abellan Lopez, Inmaculada Gil Tardón,                        nonetheless, mandatory since it concerned a decision
Antonio Garcia Velazquez, Maria Carmen Labrador Rubio,              affecting all officials .
Carmen Casado Salinas, Diego Gonzalez Marin, Eva Maria
Rasines Martin, Julio Vizcarra Soriano and Leopoldo Fabra           Moreover, the defendant institution has disregarded the
Utray, all of whom are officials of the Commission of the           principle of non-discrimination in that there was no single
European Communities and residing at Brussels,                      inter-institutional criterion when applying the new
represented by Ramon Garcia-Gallardo, of the Burgos                 restrictive provisions in the present case .
Bar .
                                                                    Finally, the applicants rely on other legal grounds, such as
                                                                    breach of the principles of legitimate expectations and of
The applicant claims that the Court should :                        acquired rights .
— annul the decision adopted by the Commission on 2 May
     1995 in response to a complaint submitted by Diego
     Echauz Brigaldi and the rest of the officials on List A, by
     which the Commission refused special leave for elections
     and travelling time in order to exercise the right to vote     Action brought on 1 December 1995 by Azienda Agricola
     of those officials working for the Commission of               'Le Canne' SRL against the Commission of the European
                                                                                                 Communities
     Spanish nationality whose official residence continues to
     be in Spain and who travelled to Spain for the European                                  ( Case T-218/95 )
     Parliament elections of June 1994,                                                          ( 96/C 77/29 )
— annul the implied rejection in the same terms as above in                         (Language of the case: Italian)
     respect of the officials in List B,
                                                                    An action against the Commission of the European
— furthermore, in view of the economic consequences of              Communities was brought before the Court of First
     the present case, require the Commission either to             Instance of the European Communities on 1 December
     compensate each official on List A and List B with the         1995 by Azienda Agricola 'Le Canne' SRL, whose registered
     days used by each of them to travel to Spain to vote, in       office is at Porto Viro ( Rovigo ), Italy, represented by Giulio
     accordance with the table appearing in Opinion                 Schiller, Giuseppe Carraro and Francesca Mazzonnetto, of
     No 201/92 of 18 December 1991 on special leave for             the Padua Bar, and by Guy Arendt, of the Luxembourg Bar,
     elections adopted by the Board of the Heads of                 with an address for service in Luxembourg at the Chambers
     Administration, or to pay them for the days used,              of Guy Arendt.
— order the Commission of the European Communities to               The applicant claims that the Court should :
     pay the costs of these proceedings .
                                                                    — declare void the contested act of the Commission, Note
                                                                        No 12497 of 27 October 1995 ,
Pleas in law and main arguments:
                                                                    — order the Commission to make good the damage,
Several officials of Spanish nationality at the Commission of
the European Communities contest the decision to abolish            — order the Commission to pay the costs .