Order of the General Court (Ninth Chamber) of 6 January 2015 — St’art and Others v Commission

(Case T‑36/14)

Action for annulment — ‘European Creative Industries Alliance’ Programme — ‘C-I Factor’ project aimed at introducing new instruments in order to promote funding for cultural and creative industries — Decision to end the project — Measure forming part of a purely contractual framework from which it is not separable — Inadmissibility

1.                     Actions for annulment — Action relating in reality to a contractual dispute — Application for annulment of a decision to terminate a financing agreement — No jurisdiction of the EU judicature — Inadmissibility (Arts 263 TFEU and 288 TFEU) (see paras 28-30, 33, 35)

2.                     Judicial proceedings — Referral to the General Court under an arbitration clause — Arbitration clause — Concept (Art. 272 TFEU) (see paras 37, 38)

3.                     Actions for annulment — Action relating in reality to a contractual dispute — Reclassification of the action — Conditions — Action not based on any plea claiming infringement of the rules governing the contractual relationship — Exclusion of reclassification (Arts 263 TFEU and 272 TFEU) (see paras 44, 46-48)

Re:

ACTION for annulation of, first, the Commission’s ‘implicit decision of unknown date’ aimed at ending the project ‘C-I Factor SI2.609157-2/G/ENT/CIP/11/C/N03C011’ and, therefore, ending the grant awarded to the consortium of which the applicants form part and, secondly, the ‘explicit decision confirming it’ adopted on 29 November 2013.

Operative part

1. The action is dismissed.

2. St’art — Fonds d’investissement dans les entreprises culturelles, Stichting Cultuur — Ondernemen and Angel Capital Innovations Ltd are ordered to bear their own costs and those incurred by the European Commission.