Notices for publication in the OJ nº T-32/20 of Tribunal General de la Unión Europea, February 21, 2020

• Resolution Date: February 21, 2020
• Issuing Organization: Tribunal General de la Unión Europea
• Decision Number: T-32/20

Action brought on 14 January 2020 - Buxadé Villalba and Others v Parliament

(Case T-32/20)

Language of the case: Spanish

Parties

Applicants: Jorge Buxadé Villalba, María Esperanza Araceli Aguilar Pinar and Hermann Tertsch Del Valle-Lersundi (represented by: M. Castro Fuertes, lawyer)

Defendant: European Parliament

Form of order sought

The applicants claim that the Court should:

annul the decision to grant Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó and Antoni Comín i Oliveres the status of Members of the European Parliament;

order the cessation of any effects of that status and the annulment of any effects already produced;

order the termination of any contracts for the provision of services concluded by Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó and Antoni Comín i Oliveres with assistants, advisers, trainees or third parties;

order Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó and Antoni Comín i Oliveres to reimburse all sums, regardless of the reason and the amount, received by them from the European Parliament in their unlawful status as MEPs and the sums paid by the European Parliament to third parties for any contract for the provision of services concluded with assistants, advisers, trainees or third parties;

in the alternative, declare that the post of MEP is incompatible with that of member of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Community, declare that Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó and Antoni Comín i Oliveres have no right to receive any remuneration from 2 July 2019 until the date on which they took up their posts, and order the reimbursement of that remuneration together with late payment interest, in the event that they have received any amount;

in the event that the application is successful, order the European Parliament to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of the action, the applicants rely on four pleas in law.

First plea, alleging infringement of Articles 8 and 12 of the Act concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament of 20 September 1976, in accordance with Spanish electoral law.

In that regard, the applicants submit that, in accordance with that Act, the European electoral procedure is governed, in each Member State, by national provisions and that, consequently, Articles 219 to 224 of the Ley Orgánica del Régimen Electoral General (Organic Law on the General Electoral System) are applicable. Specifically, the latter provision provides that within five days, elected candidates must swear or pledge to...