Judgments nº T-48/17 of Tribunal General de la Unión Europea, November 07, 2019

Resolution DateNovember 07, 2019
Issuing OrganizationTribunal General de la Unión Europea
Decision NumberT-48/17

(Law governing the institutions - European Parliament - Decision declaring certain expenditure of a political party ineligible for the purposes of a grant for 2015 - Decision awarding a grant for 2017 and making provision for pre-financing at the rate of 33% of the maximum grant amount and an obligation to provide a bank guarantee - Obligation of impartiality - Rights of the defence - Financial Regulation - Rules of application of the Financial Regulation - Regulation (EC) No 2004/2003 - Proportionality - Equal treatment)

In Case T-48/17,

Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe ASBL (ADDE), established in Brussels (Belgium), represented initially by L. Defalque and L. Ruessmann, subsequently by M. Modrikanen and finally by Y. Rimokh, lawyers,

applicant,

v

European Parliament, represented by C. Burgos and S. Alves, acting as Agents,

defendant,

APPLICATION pursuant to Article 263 TFEU seeking annulment, first, of the decision of the Parliament of 21 November 2016 declaring certain expenditure ineligible for the purposes of a grant for 2015 and, second, of Parliament Decision FINS-2017-13 of 12 December 2016 concerning the award of a grant to the applicant for 2017, in so far as that decision limits the pre-financing to 33% of the maximum grant amount, subject to the provision of a bank guarantee,

THE GENERAL COURT (Eighth Chamber, Extended Composition),

composed of A.M. Collins (Rapporteur), President, M. Kancheva, R. Barents, J. Passer and G. De Baere, Judges,

Registrar: F. Oller, Administrator,

having regard to the written part of the procedure and further to the hearing on 8 May 2019,

gives the following

Judgment

Background to the dispute

1 The applicant, Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe ASBL (ADDE), is a political party at European level within the meaning of Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2004/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 on the regulations governing political parties at European level and the rules regarding their funding (OJ 2003 L 297, p. 1).

2 On 30 September 2014, the applicant, under Article 4 of Regulation No 2004/2003, applied for funding from the general budget of the European Union for the 2015 financial year.

3 At its meeting of 15 December 2014, the Bureau of the European Parliament adopted decision FINS-2015-14 awarding a maximum grant of EUR 1 241 725 to the applicant for the 2015 financial year.

4 On 18 April 2016, the external auditor adopted its audit report which considered expenditure in the sum of EUR 157 935.05 to be ineligible for the 2015 financial year.

5 From May 2016, the Parliament’s services performed additional checks. Following those checks, on 23 May 2016, Parliament sent the applicant a letter informing it of a decision of its Bureau of 9 May 2016 which specified the criteria for interpreting the prohibition of the financing of referenda campaigns.

6 On 26 and 27 September 2016, the Parliament’s services carried out an inspection visit at the premises of the applicant.

7 On 30 September 2016, the applicant applied for funding from the general budget of the European Union for the 2017 financial year.

8 By letter dated 14 October 2016, the Director-General for Finance of the Parliament informed the applicant that, following the external audit report and the additional checks performed by the Parliament’s services, a number of expenditure items were considered to be ineligible for the 2015 financial year. The applicant was invited to submit its observations by 4 November 2016 at the latest.

9 On 2 November 2016, the applicant submitted its observations on the letter of the Director-General for Finance of the Parliament of 14 October 2016. In addition, it requested to be heard at the meeting of the Bureau of the Parliament scheduled in order to adopt the decision on the final report which it had submitted for the 2015 financial year.

10 On 10 November 2016, the Secretary-General of the Parliament invited the Bureau of the Parliament to adopt the decision on the final report which the applicant had submitted for the 2015 financial year, declaring certain expenditure to be ineligible.

11 At its meeting on 21 November 2016, the Bureau of the Parliament examined the final report submitted by the applicant for the 2015 financial year following the closure of its accounts for that financial year. It declared the sum of EUR 500 615.55 to be ineligible and fixed the final grant amount awarded to the applicant at EUR 820 725.08. Accordingly, it requested the applicant to reimburse the sum of EUR 172 654.92 (‘the contested decision relating to the 2015 financial year’).

12 On 5 December 2016, the Secretary-General of the Parliament invited the Bureau to adopt its decision on the applications for funding from the general budget of the European Union for the 2017 financial year, submitted by a number of political parties and political foundations at European level, including the applicant.

13 At its meeting of 12 December 2016, the Bureau of the European Parliament adopted decision FINS-2017-13, awarding a maximum grant of EUR 1 102 642.71 to the applicant for the 2017 financial year and providing that the pre-financing would be limited to 33% of the maximum amount of the grant, subject to the provision of a first demand bank guarantee (‘the contested decision relating to the 2017 financial year’). That decision was signed and sent to the applicant on 15 December 2016.

Procedure and forms of order sought

14 By application lodged at the Registry of the General Court on 27 January 2017, the applicant brought the present action.

15 By separate document lodged at the Court Registry on the same day, the applicant made an application for interim measures. That application was dismissed by order of 14 March 2017, ADDE v European Parliament (T-48/17 R, not published, EU:T:2017:170). The costs of those proceedings were reserved.

16 Following the conclusion of the written part of the proceedings, the applicant was summoned to a hearing initially scheduled for 6 June 2018, which was deferred due to the applicant’s representative not being available.

17 By document lodged at the Registry of the General Court on 30 July 2018, the applicant applied for legal aid under Article 147 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Court. In the light of the Parliament’s observations, and after asking the applicant certain questions and inviting it to lodge certain documents by way of measures of organisation of procedure under Article 89 of the Rules of Procedure, the Court dismissed the application for legal aid by order of 5 April 2019, ADDE v European Parliament (T-48/17 AJ, not published).

18 After the applicant appointed a new representative, the parties presented oral argument and their answers to the questions put by the Court at the hearing on 8 May 2019.

19 The applicant claims that the Court should:

- annul the contested decision relating to the 2015 financial year;

- annul the contested decision relating to the 2017 financial year in so far as it limits the pre-financing to 33% of the maximum grant amount subject to a bank guarantee being provided;

- order the Parliament to pay the costs.

20 The Parliament contends that the Court should:

- dismiss the action as unfounded;

- order the applicant to pay the costs, including those incurred in the proceedings for interim measures.

Law

The application to annul the contested decision relating to the 2015 financial year

21 In support of the application for annulment of the decision declaring certain expenditure ineligible for the 2015 financial year, the applicant raises three pleas in law alleging, first, infringement of the principle of good administration and of the rights of the defence, second, infringement of Articles 7 to 9 of Regulation No 2004/2003 and, third, infringement of the principles of proportionality and equal treatment.

22 Since the application does not contain any arguments developing the third plea, which is therefore formulated in an abstract manner, that plea is inadmissible because mere reliance on the principle of EU law which is alleged to have been breached, without stating the legal and factual particulars on which that allegation is based, does not satisfy the requirements of Article 76(d) of the Rules of Procedure (judgment of 3 May 2007, Spain v Commission, T-219/04, EU:T:2007:121, paragraph 89).

The alleged infringement of the principle of good administration and of the rights of the defence

23 The first part of the plea advanced in support of the application for annulment of the contested decision relating to the 2015 financial year is divided into two parts. By the first part of that plea, the applicant submits that the Parliament infringed the principle of good administration and Article 41 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (‘the Charter’) in so far as the contested decision relating to the 2015 financial year is neither fair nor impartial on account of the composition of the Bureau of the Parliament. In particular, the applicant states that that Bureau, composed of the President and the 14 Vice-Presidents of the Parliament, does not include a single representative of the ‘Eurosceptic’ parties. Therefore, in view of its composition, the Bureau is not in a position to ensure the exercise of an impartial and objective control of the funds allocated to European political parties and to the political foundations linked to them. That is confirmed, moreover, by the creation of an independent authority for those purposes, pursuant to Article 6 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations (OJ 2014 L 317, p. 1).

24 In addition, the applicant claims that Ms Ulrike Lunacek, a Vice-President of the Parliament who belongs to the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance, and who is a...

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