CELEX: C1997/370/23
Language: en
Date: 1997-12-06 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 13 October 1997 by Patrick Fischbach and others against the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-271/97)

6 . 12 . 97            EN                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                   C 370/ 11
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                     Luxembourg, represented by Jean-Noel Louis, Thierry
                                                                        Demaseure, Ariane Tornel and Fran<;oise Parmentier, of
                                                                        the Brussels Bar, with an address for service in
EPAC, Empresa para a Agro-Alimenta^ao e Cereais, SA, a
                                                                        Luxembourg at the offices of Fiduciaire Myson Sari,
limited liability company governed by Portuguese law,                   30 Rue de Cessange.
whose capital is exclusively public, challenges the decision
whereby the Commission describes as aid the measures
taken in its favour, considers such aid incompatible with               The applicants claim that the Court should :
Article 92 of the EC Treaty and directs the Portuguese
State to abolish, within two weeks from notifications, the
aforementioned aid and to recover, within two months                    — annul the decisions expressly rejecting their requests
from notifications, the said aid .                                           for reimbursement of the sums wrongly deducted in
                                                                             respect of household grants,
The pleas in law and main arguments are identical to
                                                                        — order the defendant to reimburse to them all sums
those relied on in T-204/97 EPAC v. Commission ('). The
applicant alleges infringement of Articles 190 and 92 of                     wrongly deducted and to pay interest thereon at the
the EC Treaty as well as the existence, in the present case ,                rate of 8 % per annum from the date when each
of arbitrary discrimination between public and private                       deduction was made until the date of reimbursement,
undertakings, that it is legally impossible for the
Portuguese State to adopt the measures imposed by the                   — order the defendant to pay the costs.
contested decision and breach of the principles of
proportionality and of legitimate expectations .
                                                                        Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
(') Not yet published in the Official Journal .
                                                                        The applicants, officials of the Commission whose spouses
                                                                        receive a household grant, state that up until July 1996
                                                                        the defendant deducted, pursuant to Article 67 ( 2 ) of the
                                                                        Staff Regulations for officials, the household grant
                                                                        received by their spouses from the family allowances to
                                                                        which they were entitled . In July 19 96 , in consequence of
Action brought on 13 October 1997 by Patrick Fischbach                  the judgment delivered by the Court of First Instance on
and others against the Commission of the European                       11 June 1996 in Case T-147/95 Pavan v. Parliament, the
                           Communities                                  Commission published a staff notice inviting the persons
                                                                        concerned to apply to the administration for re-assessment
                        ( Case T-271/97)                                of their situation . Upon the applicants so doing, the
                          ( 97/C 370/23 )                               administration decided that, with effect from 1 July 1996,
                                                                        it would no longer deduct that grant from the household
                (Language of the case: French)                          allowance paid to the applicants. The applicants there
                                                                        upon requested retroactive reimbursement of all of the
                                                                        sums deducted together with default interest . Those
An action against the Commission of the European                        requests were rejected by the defendant.
Communities was brought before the Court of First
Instance of the European Communities on 13 October
1997 by Patrick Fischbach , residing at Uebersyren                      The pleas in law and main arguments advanced by the
( Luxembourg ), Alain Gengler, residing at Bettembourg                  applicants against those rejection decisions are the same as
( Luxembourg), Joseph Koener, residing at Olm                           those in Case T-181 /97 (').
( Luxembourg ), Gaby Pavant-Welter, residing at Dalheim
( Luxembourg), Marie-Anne Prommenschenkel-Po.orters,                    (') Case T-181 /97 Meyer and Others v. Court of Justice, OJ
residing in Luxembourg, and Josepha Wonner, residing in                     C 252 , 16 . 8 . 1997, p. 35 .