Action brought on 3 September 2013 – Marchiani v Parliament

(Case T-479/13)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicant: Jean-Charles Marchiani (Toulon, France) (represented by: C.-S. Marchiani, lawyer)

Defendant: European Parliament

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:

annul the decision of the Secretary General of 4 July 2013;

annul the debit note of 5 July 2013;

order the European Parliament to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

By the present action, the applicant contests the decision of the European Parliament to recover the sums received between 2001 and 2004 by the applicant as Parliamentary assistance expenses.

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

1.    First plea in law, alleging an irregularity in procedure, in so far as the decision of the of the Secretary General of the Parliament of 4 July 2013 is in violation of the decision of the Bureau of the European Parliament of 19 May and 9 July 2008 concerning Implementing Measures for the Statute for Members of the European Parliament, of the adversarial principle and of the rights of defence.

2.    Second plea in law, alleging an incorrect application of the regulation concerning fees and expenses of Members of the Parliament (the FEM regulation).

3.    Third plea in law, alleging an error of assessment of the documents on the file.

4.    Fourth plea in law, alleging a lack of impartiality on the part of the Secretary General of the European Parliament when adopting the decision dated 4 July 2013.

5.    Fifth and Sixth pleas in law, alleging that the recovery of the sums in question is time-barred.