Judgment of the General Court (Fifth Chamber) of 12 September 2013 —
Italy v Commission

(Case T‑126/09)

Languages — Notices of open competition for the recruitment of administrators — Full publication in three official languages — Information concerning the notices of open competitions — Publication in all official languages — Language of the tests — Choice of second language from three official languages

1.                     Officials — Competitions — Notice of open competition — Publication in full in the Official Journal only in some official languages and brief notice in all languages — Not permissible — Discrimination based on language — Breach of principle of proportionality (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 21; Staff Regulations, Art. 1 quinquies, (1) and (6); Annex III, Art. 1(2); Council Regulation No 1, Art. 5) (see paras 22-28)

2.                     Officials — Competitions — Running of an open competition — Languages of participation in tests — Equal treatment — Requirement of specific linguistic knowledge — Statement of reasons — Justification having regard to the interests of the service — Observance of the principle of proportionality (Staff Regulations, Arts 1 quinquies, (1) and (6), 27, first para., and 28(f); Annex III, Art. 1(1)(f);Council Regulation No 1, Art. 1) (see paras 33-39)

3.                     Actions brought by officials — Judgment annulling a measure — Effects — Annulment of a notice of open competition — Legitimate expectations of the candidates selected — Results of the competition not called into question (Art. 266 TFEU; Staff Regulations, Art. 91) (see paras 48, 49)

Re:

APPLICATION for annulment of Notices of open competitions EPSO/AD/144/09 in the field of public health, EPSO/AD/145/09 in the field of food safety (policy and legislation) and EPSO/AD/146/09 in the field of food safety (audit, inspection and assessment), to constitute a reserve list of administrators (AD 5) with Bulgarian, Cypriot, Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Romanian, Slovak and Slovenian citizenship, published in the English, French and German versions of the Official Journal of the European Union of 14 January 2009 (OJ 2009, C 9 A, p. 1).

Operative part

The Court:

1. Annuls the notices of open competitions EPSO/AD/144/09 in the field of public health, EPSO/AD/145/09 in the field of food safety (policy and legislation) and EPSO/AD/146/09 in the field of food safety (audit, inspection and assessment), to constitute a reserve list of administrators (AD 5) with Bulgarian, Cypriot, Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Romanian, Slovak and Slovenian citizenship, published in the English, French and German versions of the Official Journal of the European Union of 14 January 2009;

2. Orders the Italian Republic and the European Commission to bear their own costs.