Order of the President of the General Court of 16 February 2017 — Gollnisch v Parliament

(Case T‑624/16 R)

(Interim measures — Member of the European Parliament — Recovery, by way of compensation, of allowances paid as reimbursement of parliamentary assistance expenses — Application for suspension of operation of a measure — No urgency)

1.      Application for interim measures — Suspension of operation of a measure — Interim measures — Conditions for granting — Prima facie case — Urgency — Serious and irreparable damage — Cumulative nature — Balancing of all the interests involved — Order of examination and method of verification — Discretion of the court hearing the application for interim relief

(Arts 256(1) TFEU, 278 TFEU and 279 TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 156(3))

(see paras 16-18)

2.      Application for interim measures — Suspension of operation of a measure — Interim measures — Conditions for granting — Urgency — Serious and irreparable damage — Burden of proof — Financial loss — Obligation to provide concrete and precise indications, supported by detailed documentary evidence

(Arts 256(1) TFEU, 278 TFEU and 279 TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 156(3))

(see paras 23, 24)

3.      Application for interim measures — Suspension of operation of a measure — Interim measures — Conditions for granting — Urgency — Serious and irreparable damage — Burden of proof — Purely hypothetical damage based on the happening of future and uncertain events — Insufficient to demonstrate urgency — Debit note of an institution without executory force — No urgency

(Arts 278 TFEU, 279 TFEU and 299, first para., TFEU; European Parliament and Council Regulation No 966/2012, Art. 79(2))

(see paras 25, 49, 50, 57)

4.      European Parliament — Powers — Adoption of executory decisions including a financial obligation on the addressees — Exclusion — Consequences

(Art. 299 TFEU)

(see paras 51, 52)

Re:

APPLICATION based on Articles 278 TFEU and 279 TFEU, seeking suspension of the operation of the decision of the Secretary-General of the European Parliament of 1 July 2016, relating to recovery from the applicant of a sum of EUR 275 984.23, and of debit note No 2016-916 of 5 July 2016 adopted pursuant to that decision and to the notification of those measures by the Director-General for Finance of 6 July 2016.

Operative part

1. The application for interim measures is dismissed.

2. Costs are reserved.