Action brought on 4 March 2013 - Deweerdt and Others v Court of Auditors

(Case T-132/13)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicants: Sonja Deweerdt (Rulles, Belgium); Didier Lebrun (Luxembourg, Luxembourg); and Margot Lietz (Mensdorf, Luxembourg) (represented by: A. Coolen, J.-N. Louis, E. Marchal and D. Abreu Caldas, lawyers)

Defendant: Court of Auditors of the European Union

Form of order sought

The applicants claim that the Court should:

Declare Article 4 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Auditors unlawful inasmuch as it has the effect of ensuring the impunity of a Member who is guilty of harassment;

Annul the decision of the Court of Auditors of 13 December 2012 not to refer the matter to the Court of Justice in order to request it to examine whether Ms S., at that time a Member of the Court of Auditors, no longer fulfilled the requisite conditions or met the obligations arising from her office and, should her term of office have already ended, to deprive her of her right to a pension;

Order the Court of Auditors to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of the action, the applicants rely on four pleas in law.

The first plea in law alleges that Article 4 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Auditors is unlawful inasmuch as it ensures the impunity of a Member who is guilty of harassment.

The second plea in law relates to the fact that the contested decision is marred by inconsistency, inasmuch as the Court of Auditors expressly acknowledged Ms S.'s shortcomings whilst refusing to refer the matter of Ms S. to the Court of Justice.

The third plea in law alleges that there is no relevant reasoning to enable the applicants to assess the merits of the contested decision.

The fourth plea in law alleges infringement of the principle of legitimate expectations and an abuse of rights, inasmuch as the Court of Auditors examined the expediency of referring the matter of Ms S. to the Court of Justice only a year and a day after the external investigator had submitted the report.

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