Judgment of the General Court of 28 September 2022 – Agrofert v Parliament
(Case T-174/21)1
(Access to documents – Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 – Documents relating to the investigation against the former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic on the misuse of EU funds and potential conflicts of interest –Refusal to grant access – Exception relating to the protection of the purpose of inspections, investigations and audits – Interest in bringing proceedings in part ceasing to exist – No need to adjudicate in part – Obligation to state reasons)
Language of the case: Czech
Parties
Applicant: Agrofert a.s. (Prague, Czech Republic) (represented by: S. Sobolová, lawyer)
Defendant: European Parliament (represented by: N. Görlitz, J.-C. Puffer and O. Hrstková Šolcová, Agents)
Intervener in support of the defendant: European Commission (represented by: C. Ehrbar, M. Salyková and J. Hradil, Agents)
Re:
By its action based on Article 263 TFEU, the applicant seeks the annulment of Decision A(2019) 8551 C (D 300153) of the European Parliament of 15 January 2021, by which it refused the applicant access to two documents relating to the investigation against the former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic on misuse of European funds and potential conflicts of interest.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
1. Declares that there is no longer any need to adjudicate on the application for annulment of Decision A(2019) 8551 C (D 300153) of the European Parliament of 15 January 2021, in so far as it refused access to the Commission’s final audit report of 29 November 2019, bearing reference ARES 2019 7370050, relating to the audit on the functioning of the management and control systems in place in the Czech Republic for the purpose of preventing conflicts of interests;
2. Dismisses the action as to the remainder;
3. Orders Agrofert, a.s. to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the Parliament;
4. Orders the European Commission to bear its own costs.
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1 OJ C 206, 31.5.2021.