Action brought on 22 December 2017 — European Commission v Czech Republic
(Case C-719/17)
Language of the case: Czech
Parties
Applicant: European Commission (represented by: Z. Malůšková and G. Wils, acting as Agents)
Defendant: Czech Republic
Form of order sought
1. declare that, by failing to indicate at regular intervals, at least every three months, the relevant number of applicants who could be relocated swiftly to its territory, the Czech Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 5(2) of Council Decision (EU) 2015/1523 of 14 September 2015 establishing provisional measures in the area of international protection for the benefit of Italy and of Greece 1 and Article 5(2) of Council Decision (EU) 2015/1601 of 22 September 2015 establishing provisional measures in the area of international protection for the benefit of Italy and Greece, 2 and hence also the further obligations concerning relocation laid down in Articles 5(4) to (11) of those two Council decisions;
2. order the Czech Republic to pay the costs.
Pleas in law and main arguments
In September 2015 the Council adopted a provisional programme of emergency relocation by means of two decisions, namely Decision (EU) 2015/1523 and Decision (EU) 2015/1601, on the basis of which the Member States undertook to relocate from Italy and Greece persons in clear need of international protection.
The Council decisions impose an obligation on the Member States to offer every three months available places for relocation, so as to ensure a speedy and orderly relocation process. While nearly all States carried out relocations and accepted obligations in that field, the Czech Republic has not carried out any relocations since August 2016, and for more than a year now has not offered any new places.
On 15 June 2017 the Commission started a procedure for failure to fulfil obligations against the Czech Republic.
The Czech Republic’s answer was not regarded as satisfactory, and the Commission therefore decided to proceed to the next step in the procedure, namely the issuing of a reasoned opinion on 26 July 2017.
The answer to the reasoned opinion was not regarded as satisfactory, and the Commission therefore decided to bring an action against the Czech Republic before the Court of Justice of the European Union for failure to fulfil obligations concerning relocation.
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1 OJ 2015 L 239, p. 146.
2 OJ 2015 L 248, p. 80.