Judgment of the General Court of 25 September 2018 — Psara and Others v Parliament

(Case T-639/15 to T‑666/15 and T‑94/16) ¹

(Access to documents — Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 — European Parliament — Expenditure by Members of the Parliament of their allowances — Refusal to grant access — Non-existent documents — Personal data — Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 — Need to transfer the data — Specific and individual examination — Partial access — Excessive administrative burden — Obligation to state reasons)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant in Case T-639/15: Maria Psara (Athens, Greece) (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-640/15: Tina Kristan (Ljubljana, Slovenia) (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-641/15: Tanja Malle (Vienna, Austria) (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-642/15: Wojciech Cieśla (Warsaw, Poland) (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-643/15: Staffan Dahllof (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-644/15: Delphine Reuter (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Cases T-645/15 and T-654/15: České centrum pro investigativní žurnalistiku o.p.s. (Prague, Czech Republic) (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-646/15: Harry Karanikas (Chalándri, Greece) (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Cases T-647/15 and T-657/15: Crina Boros (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Cases T-648/15, T-663/15 and T-665/15: Baltijas pētnieciskās žurnālistikas centrs Re:Baltica (Riga, Latvia) (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-649/15: Balazs Toth (Budapest, Hungary) (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-650/15: Minna Knus-Galán (Helsinki, Finland) (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-651/15: Atanas Tchobanov (Plessis-Robinson, France) (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-652/15: Dirk Liedtke (Hamburg, Germany) (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-653/15: Nils Mulvad (Risskov, Denmark) (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-655/15: Hugo van der Parre (Huizen, Netherlands) (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-656/15: Guia Baggi (Florence, Italy) (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-658/15: Marcos García Rey (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-659/15: Mark Lee Hunter (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-660/15: Kristof Clerix (Brussels) (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-661/15: Rui Araujo (Lisbon, Portugal) (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-662/15: Anuška Delić (Ljubljana) (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-664/15: Jacob Borg (St Julian’s, Malta) (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-666/15: Matilda Bačelić (Zagreb, Croatia) (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-94/16: Gavin Sheridan (represented by: N. Pirc Musar and R. Lemut Strle, lawyers)

Defendant: European Parliament (represented by: N. Görlitz, C. Burgos and M. Windisch, acting as Agents)

Re:

Applications on the basis of Article 263 TFEU seeking annulment of Decisions A(2015) 8324 C, A(2015) 8463 C, A(2015) 8627 C, A(2015) 8682 C, A(2015) 8594 C, A(2015) 8551 C, A(2015) 8732 C, A(2015) 8681 C, A(2015) 8334 C, A(2015) 8327 C and A(2015) 8344 C of 14 September 2015, A(2015) 8656 C, A(2015) 8678 C, A(2015) 8361 C, A(2015) 8663 C, A(2015) 8360 C, A(2015) 8486 C and A(2015) 8305 C of 15 September 2015, A(2015) 8602 C, A(2015) 8554 C, A(2015) 8490 C, A(2015) 8659 C, A(2015) 8547 C, A(2015) 8552 C, A(2015) 8553 C, A(2015) 8661 C, A(2015) 8684 C and A(2015) 8672 C of 16 September 2015, and A(2015) 13844 C of 14 January 2016 of the European Parliament, by which the Parliament rejected, on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (OJ 2001 L 145, p. 43), the applicants’ confirmatory applications for access to Parliament documents containing information on the allowances of its members.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Orders the joinder of Cases T-639/15 to T-666/15 and T-94/16 for the purposes of the judgment;

Dismisses the actions;

Orders Ms Maria Psara, Ms Tina Kristan, Ms Tanja Malle, Mr Wojciech Cieśla, Mr Staffan Dahllof, Ms Delphine Reuter, České centrum pro investigativní žurnalistiku o.p.s., Mr Harry Karanikas, Ms Crina Boros, Baltijas pētnieciskās žurnālistikas centrs Re:Baltica, Mr Balazs Toth, Ms Minna Knus-Galán, Mr Atanas Tchobanov, Mr Dirk Liedtke, Mr Nils Mulvad, Mr Hugo van der Parre, Ms Guia Baggi, Mr Marcos García Rey, Mr Mark Lee Hunter, Mr Kristof Clerix, Mr Rui Araujo, Ms Anuška Delić, Mr Jacob Borg, Ms Matilda Bačelić and Mr Gavin Sheridan to pay the costs.

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¹ OJ C 48, 8.2.2016.