Notice for the OJ
Action brought on 10 January 2002 by Guillermo Balmori Abella against the Commission of the European Communities
(Case T-2/02)
Language of the case: Spanish
An action against the Commission of the European Communities was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 10 January 2002 by Guillermo Balmori Abella, residing in Madrid, represented by Valentín Playá Serra, lawyer.
The applicant claims that the Court should:
(annul notice of open competition COM/A/12/01 for the constitution of a reserve for the recruitment of administrators in the field of the management of property, logistics and operations, issued by the Commission of the European Communities on 23 October 2001.
Pleas in law and main arguments:
The applicant is challenging notice of open competition COM/A/12/01
1, inasmuch as it states, in point III(B), headed "Special conditions", that "candidates must have been born after 30 November 1955". The applicant claims that that provision imposes discriminatory conditions based on age, since the age-limit is not justified by any special characteristic of the posts to be filled which might suggest that the work could not be carried out by persons in the group discriminated against. Consequently, that condition is in breach of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (Articles 5, 8 and 14), which the European Union has undertaken to respect (Article 6(2) of the Treaty on European Union), as well as Article 13 of the EC Treaty and the case-law of the Court of Justice. The applicant further states that, in addition to being illegal, such discrimination is gravely prejudicial to workers aged over 45, since that approach on the part of the Community institutions helps to create a bias against the recruitment of those workers.