Judgment of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 3 March 2022 – WV v European External Action Service (EEAS)

(Case C-162/20 P) ¹

(Appeal – Civil service – Officials – Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union – Article 60, first paragraph – Unauthorised absence – Scope – Deduction from annual leave – Withholding of salary – Official who has failed to fulfil his or her obligations under Articles 21 and 55 of the Staff Regulations)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Appellant: WV (represented by: É. Boigelot, avocat)

Other party to the proceedings: European External Action Service (EEAS) (represented by: S. Marquardt and R. Spáč, acting as Agents, and by M. Troncoso Ferrer, abogado, and F.-M. Hislaire, avocat)

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1.    Sets aside the order of the General Court of the European Union of 29 January 2020, WV v EEAS (T-471/18, not published, EU:T:2020:26);

2.    Annuls the decision of the European External Action Service (EEAS) of 27 November 2017 to impose a deduction from salary amounting to 72 calendar days and the decision of the EEAS of 2 May 2018 rejecting the appellant’s complaint lodged on 3 January 2018;

3.    Orders the EEAS to repay to the appellant the amounts wrongly deducted from her remuneration, amounting to 71.5 days, together with interest at the rate of 5% per annum from the date on which they were deducted;

4.    Orders the EEAS to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by WV at first instance and in the present appeal.

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¹ OJ C 320, 28.9.2020.