Orders nº T-149/09 of Court of First Instance of the European Communities, June 08, 2009

• Resolution Date: June 08, 2009
• Issuing Organization: Court of First Instance of the European Communities
• Decision Number: T-149/09

(Application for interim measures – Recovery of allowances paid by way of reimbursement of parliamentary assistance expenses – Application for suspension of operation of a measure – Inadmissibility – No urgency)

In Case T‑149/09 R,

Densmore Ronald Dover, residing in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire (United Kingdom), represented by D. Vaughan QC, M. Lester, Barrister, and M. French, Solicitor,

applicant,

v

European Parliament, represented by H. Krück, D. Moore and M. Windisch, acting as Agents,

defendant,

APPLICATION for suspension of the operation of Decision D (2009) 4639 of the Secretary General of the European Parliament of 29 January 2009 concerning the recovery of allowances unduly paid to the applicant by way of reimbursement of his parliamentary assistance expenses, of the debit note based on that decision and of any decision taken with a view to offsetting the amount claimed against payment of other parliamentary allowances due to the applicant,

THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

makes the following

Order

Facts, procedure and forms of order sought by the parties

1 The applicant, Densmore Ronald Dover, has been a Member of the European Parliament since 1999 and was formerly a Member of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

2 On 3 February 2009, he was notified of Decision D (2009) 4639 of the Secretary General of the European Parliament of 29 January 2009 (‘the contested decision’) stating that a total sum of GBP 538 290 which had been unduly paid to him between 1999 and 2008 by way of parliamentary expenses and allowances was to be recovered pursuant to the Rules Governing the Payment of Expenses and Allowances to Members of the European Parliament (‘the PEAM Rules’), in particular Article 14 and Article 27(3) thereof.

3 The operative part of the contested decision is worded as follows:

‘1. A total amount of GBP 538 290 was unduly paid to [the applicant] under the PEAM rules.

2. Pursuant to Article 27(3) PEAM, instructions are hereby given to the authorising officer by delegation to take all necessary steps to recover, in cooperation with the accounting officer, the sum of GBP 538 290 from [the applicant].’

   4 Next, the applicant received a debit note dated 30 January 2009 in which the Secretary General of the Parliament requested him to pay the sum of GBP 538 290, if necessary in instalments, by no later than 25 April 2009. The Secretary General of the Parliament added that, if the debt had not been recovered in full by that date, the Parliament reserved the right to charge default interest and to proceed with recovery of the debt by enforcement and by offsetting it against equivalent claims pursuant to Article 27(4) of the PEAM Rules.

   5 In a number of letters addressed to the Secretary General of the Parliament, the applicant requested that the contested decision and the debit note of 30 January 2009 be suspended, in the light of the serious and irreparable harm that he would suffer if he were required to pay the sum of GBP 538 290 by 25 April 2009.

   6 Since no replies to those letters were received, by application lodged at the Registry of the Court of First Instance on 10 April 2009, the applicant brought an action for annulment of the contested decision.

   7 By separate document, lodged at the Court Registry on 21 April 2009, the applicant brought the present application for interim measures, in which he claims, in essence, that the President of the Court of First Instance should:

   – suspend, pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 105(2) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, the operation of the contested decision, the debit note of 30 January 2009 and any decision to offset the amount claimed pending the making of an order concluding the present proceedings for interim measures;

   – in any event, following an oral hearing, suspend the operation of the contested decision, the debit note of 30 January 2009 and any decision to offset the amount claimed until the Court has ruled on the action in the main proceedings;

   – order the Parliament to pay the costs.

   8 After the application for interim measures had been lodged, a decision of the Secretary General of the Parliament dated 28 April 2009 was addressed to the applicant for partial recovery of the sum of GBP 538 290 by way of set-off, pursuant to Article 27(4) of the PEAM Rules, being 50% of the general expenditure allowance, the whole of the extra months half-allowance payable at the end of the applicant’s term of office, together with the end of service allowance and the entire capital of the life assurance from which the applicant stands to benefit at the end of his term of office.

   9 In its written observations on the application for interim...