Action brought on 19 May 2011 - French Republic v European Parliament

(Case C-238/11)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicant: French Republic (represented by: E. Belliard, G. de Bergues and A. Adam)

Defendant: European Parliament

Form of order sought

annul the deliberations of the European Parliament of 9 March 2011 relating to the calendar of periods of sessions of the Parliament for the year 2013;

order the European Parliament to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicant puts forward a single plea in support of its action, alleging, first, infringement of the Protocol No 6 on the location of the seats of the institutions and of certain bodies, agencies and departments of the European Union, annexed to the TEU and the TFEU, and of Protocol No 3 on the location of the seats of the institutions and of certain bodies, agencies and departments of the European Union, annexed to the ECSC Treaty, and, second, non-compliance with the judgment of the Court of 1 October 1997 in Case C-345/95 France v Parliament [1997] ECR I-5235.

According to the French Government, in providing that two of the 12 periods of monthly plenary sessions which must be held each year in Strasbourg are to be reduced from four to two days and will take place, in 2013, during the same week of October, the European Parliament sought to circumvent the rule that the 12 periods of monthly plenary sessions, including the budget session, must be held in Strasbourg. The contested deliberation leads, in reality, to one of the 12 periods of monthly plenary sessions which must be held in Strasbourg being eliminated. Its sole objective is thus to diminish the length of time the MEPs are present at the seat of the European Parliament, without its being justified by internal organisational requirements relating to the work of the Parliament.

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