Language of document :

Action brought on 23 January 2006 - B v Commission

(Case F-7/06)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicant: B (Brussels, Belgium) (represented by: S. Rodrigues and A. Jaume, lawyers)

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:

annul the decision of the Appointing Authority of 10 October 2005 dismissing the applicant's complaint taken in conjunction with the decision of the Appointing Authority of 26 April 2005 refusing to grant the applicant an expatriation allowance;

order the defendant to pay the applicant an expatriation allowance, as from the date of taking up her post;

order the defendant to pay interest for late payment, as from the decision to be taken;

order the defendant to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicant, an official of the Commission, challenges the decision which definitively establishes her rights by which the defendant refused her an expatriation allowance.

In support of her action, she pleads infringement of Article 4(1)(a) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations. She also raises a plea of unlawfulness to the effect that application of the criterion of nationality, set out in the first indent of that provision, to officials who have both the nationality of the Member State where they are employed and that of another Member State, infringes the principles of non-discrimination and equal treatment.

Next, the applicant claims that, in any event, she fulfils the condition of residence under the second indent of the provision in question.

In the alternative, the applicant pleads infringement of Article 4(1)(b) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations, in so far as the contested decision does not take account of the fact that the applicant satisfies both the criterion of nationality and the criterion of residence cited in that provision.

In the further alternative, the applicant pleads infringement of Article 4(3) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations, in so far as that provision cannot be interpreted as requiring an official with dual nationality to renounce that of the Member State where he is employed in order to be entitled to an expatriation allowance.

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