Action brought on 14 April 2006 - Irène Bianchi v European Training Foundation

(Case F-38/06)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicant: Irène Bianchi (Turin, Italy) (represented by: M.-A. Lucas, lawyer)

Defendant: European Training Foundation

Forms of order sought

annul the decision of the Director of the Foundation not to renew the applicant's contract of employment as a temporary agent, which was notified to her by memorandum of 24 October 2005;

order the Foundation to compensate for the pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage suffered by the applicant, together with statutory interest;

order the defendant to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicant, who was engaged by the Foundation in 2000 under a contract of employment as a temporary agent concluded initially for a period of three years and subsequently renewed until 15 April 2006, contests the decision not to renew her contract of employment beyond that date.

The applicant puts forward four pleas in law in support of her action for annulment. The first plea alleges infringement of the general principle of the rights of the defence and of Article 26 of the Staff Regulations, in that the negative evaluations which the Head of the Finance Unit sent to the Director of the Foundation were not sent to the applicant or placed in her personal file.

The second plea alleges infringement of the obligation to state reasons arising from the decision of the Director of the Foundation of 26 February 1997 pertaining to the renewal of contracts and of the second paragraph of Article 25 of the Staff Regulations, in that the applicant was not informed sufficiently of the reasons for the contested decision.

The third plea alleges a number of procedural infringements established by the aforementioned decision of 26 February 1997.

The fourth plea alleges manifest errors of assessment which the Director of the Foundation made as to the necessity for the applicant's expertise with respect, in particular, to administrative assistant posts resulting from the reform, the manner in which the applicant performed her duties and the interest of the service.

In support of her action for compensation, the applicant claims that the illegalities of the contested decision constitute wrongful acts which have caused her and are still likely to cause her serious pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage.

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