Orders nº T-236/00 of Court of First Instance of the European Communities, January 15, 2001

• Resolution Date: January 15, 2001
• Issuing Organization: Court of First Instance of the European Communities
• Decision Number: T-236/00

ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

15 January 2001 (1) (Interim relief proceedings - Framework Agreement on relations between the European Parliament and the Commission - Article 197 EC - Admissibility)

In Case T-236/00 R,

Gabriele Stauner, residing in Wolfratshausen (Germany),

Freddy Blak, residing in Næstved (Denmark),

Jens-Peter Bonde, residing in Bagsværd (Denmark),

Theodorus Bouwman, residing in Eindhoven (Netherlands),

Kathalijne Maria Buitenweg, residing in Amsterdam (Netherlands),

Mogens Camre, residing in Copenhagen (Denmark),

Rijk van Dam, residing in Rotterdam (Netherlands),

Michl Ebner, residing in Bolzano (Italy),

Christopher Heaton-Harris, residing in Kettering, Northamptonshire (United Kingdom),

Lousewies van der Laan, residing in Brussels (Belgium),

Joost Lagendijk, residing in Rotterdam,

Nelly Maes, residing in Sinaai (Belgium),

Franz-Xaver Mayer, residing in Landau-sur-l'Isar (Germany),

Franziska Emilia Müller, residing in Bruck (Upper Palatinate) (Germany),

Alexander Radwan, residing in Rottach-Egern (Germany),

Alexander de Roo, residing in Amsterdam,

Heide Rühle, residing in Stuttgart (Germany),

Ursula Schleicher, residing in Munich (Germany),

Inger Schöring, residing in Gävle (Sweden),

Esko Olavi Seppänen, residing in Helsinki (Finland),

Bart Staes, residing in Antwerp (Belgium),

Claude Turmes, residing in Esch-sur-Alzette (Luxembourg),

Members of the European Parliament, represented by J. Sedemund and T. Lübbig, lawyers, with an address for service in Luxembourg,

applicants,

v

European Parliament, represented by C. Pennera and M. Berger, acting as Agents, with an address for service in Luxembourg,

and

Commission of the European Communities, represented by U. Wölker and X. Lewis, acting as Agents, with an address for service in Luxembourg,

defendants,

APPLICATION for suspension of the application of points 17 and 29 of the Framework Agreement of 5 July 2000 on Relations between the European Parliament and the Commission and of Annex 3 to that agreement,

THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

makes the following

Order

Legal framework

1.

Since 1990, the provisions regulating institutional relations between the European Parliament and the Commission have been contained in a ‘Code of Conduct’ (OJ 1995 C 89, p. 69).

2.

In September 1999, a resolution of the European Parliament called for ‘the early establishment of an Interinstitutional Agreement between the Commission and Parliament as a Framework for a new Code of Conduct’.

3.

On 5 July 2000, the Framework Agreement on relations between Parliament and the Commission was adopted by a majority of the Members of the Parliament (hereinafter the ‘Framework Agreement’).

4.

Point 1 of the Framework Agreement provides:

‘In order to update the code of conduct adopted in 1990 and amended in 1995, the two institutions agree on the following measures to strengthen the responsibility and legitimacy of the Commission, to extend constructive dialogue and political cooperation, to improve the flow of information and to consult and inform the European Parliament on Commission administrative reforms. [The two institutions] also agree on a number of specific implementing measures (i) on the legislative process, (ii) on international agreements and enlargement, and (iii) on the transmission of confidential Commission documents and information. These implementing measures are annexed to this Framework Agreement’.

5.

Point 17 of the Framework Agreement provides:

‘In connection with the annual discharge governed by Article 276 of the EC Treaty, the [...] Parliament and the Commission agree that the Commission shall forward all information necessary for supervising the implementation of the budget for the year in question, which the chairperson of the parliamentary committee responsible for the discharge procedure pursuant to Annex VI of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament requests from it for that purpose.

If new aspects come to light concerning previous years for which discharge has already been given, the Commission shall forward all the necessary information on the matter with a view to arriving at a solution which is acceptable to both sides’.

6.

Point 29 provides that ‘[a]ll specific measures are dealt with in the Annexes’.

7.

Annex 3 to the Framework Agreement concerns the forwarding of confidential information to the Parliament. Points 1.1 to 1.5 of Annex 3 provide:

‘1.1. This Annex shall govern the forwarding to the European Parliament and the handling of confidential information from the Commission in connection with the exercise of parliamentary prerogatives concerning the legislative and budgetary procedures, the procedure for giving discharge and the exercise in general terms of the European Parliament's powers of scrutiny. The two institutions shall act in accordance with their mutual duties of sincere cooperation and in a spirit of complete mutual trust as well as in the strictest conformity with the relevant Treaty provisions, in particular Articles 6 and 46 of the Treaty on European Union and Article 276 of the EC Treaty.

1.2.“Information” shall mean any written or oral information, whatever the medium and whoever the author may be.

1.3.The Commission shall ensure that the European Parliament is given access to information, in accordance with the provisions of this Annex, whenever it receives from one of the parliamentary bodies set out in point 1.4 below a request relating to the forwarding of confidential information.

1.4.In the context of this Annex, the following may request confidential information from the Commission: the President of the European Parliament, the chairperson of the parliamentary committees concerned, the Bureau and the Conference of Presidents.

1.5.Information on infringement procedures and procedures relating to competition, in so far as they are not covered by a final Commission decision on the date when the request from one of the parliamentary bodies is received, shall be excluded from this Annex’.

8.

The general rules, and the arrangements for access to and the handling of confidential information, are contained in points 2 and 3 respectively of Annex 3.

9.

Moreover, the third paragraph of Article 197 EC provides that ‘the Commission shall reply orally or in writing to questions put to it by the European Parliament or by its Members’.

Procedure

10.

By application lodged at the Registry of the Court of First Instance on 7 September 2000, Mrs Stauner and 21 other Members of the European Parliament (‘the applicants’) brought an action under the fourth paragraph of Article 230 EC for the annulment of the Framework Agreement.

11.

By a separate document lodged at the Registry of the Court of First Instance on 22 September 2000, they also submitted an application under Article 241 EC for suspension of the application of points 17 and 29 of the Framework Agreement and of Annex 3 thereto.

12.

On 9 October 2000, the Parliament and the Commission submitted their observations on that application for interim measures.

13.

On 25 October 2000, the arguments of the parties were heard. At the end of the hearing, the President of the Court of First Instance called on the...