Notices for publication in the OJ nº T-350/20 of Tribunal General de la Unión Europea, July 31, 2020

• Resolution Date: July 31, 2020
• Issuing Organization: Tribunal General de la Unión Europea
• Decision Number: T-350/20

Action brought on 9 June 2020 - Wagenknecht v Commission

(Case T-350/20)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: Lukáš Wagenknecht (Pardubice, Czech Republic) (represented by: A. Dolejská, lawyer)

Defendant: European Commission

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:

declare that the European Commission failed, according to Article 325(1) and Article 319(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Article 61(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council, ¹ to take a binding and deterrent measure aimed at preventing or addressing the conflict of interest of the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Mr. Andrej Babiš, by not having adopted a binding measure:

preventing the members of the College of Commissioners, in particular its President, from meeting and from discussing issues with the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Mr. Andrej Babiš, related to the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) of the EU for 2021 - 2027 and the EU budget in general;

stopping disbursements of direct agricultural payments from the EU budget to certain companies of which the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Mr. Andrej Babiš, is a controlling person and beneficial owner.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of the action, the applicant relies on five pleas in law.

First plea in law, alleging that the applicant sent to the European Commission, by a letter of 30 January 2020, a call to act under Article 265 TFEU, but the European Commission, in its reply, did not address the contents of the applicant’s call and provided him with an answer on a completely different subject.

The Commission received the invitation to act from the applicant and, although it replied to this invitation, it did not adopt in its reply any position as to the applicant’s invitation to avoid meetings and discussions with the Czech Prime Minister concerning the 2021-2027 MFF and the failure of the Commission to stop disbursements of direct agricultural payments to companies of certain groups, of which the Czech Prime Minister is a controlling person and a beneficial owner. Instead of giving the answer relating to the illegal disbursement of direct agricultural subsidies to those groups, the Commission provided information on the stopping of investment structural and investment agricultural funds to one of those groups, which is a different subject that was not the...