Judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber) of 24 March 2011 – Dover v Parliament

(Case T-149/09)

Rules governing the payment of expenses and allowances to Members of the European Parliament – Review of the use of allowances – Parliamentary assistance allowance – Justification of expenditure – Recovery of undue payments

1.                     Procedure – Measures of organisation of procedure – Request that internal documents of an institution be removed from the file – Documents irregularly obtained – Retention on file – Criteria (see paras 61-63)

2.                     Acts of the institutions – Statement of reasons – Obligation – Scope – Decision of the Secretary-General of the European Parliament concerning the recovery of sums paid to an MEP by way of parliamentary assistance allowance – Duty to state specific, adequate reasons for each amount regarded as unjustified (Art. 253 EC) (see paras 98-99, 109, 111)

3.                     European Parliament – Regulation governing the payment of expenses and allowances to Members of the European Parliament – Parliamentary assistance allowance – Lack of documents to evidence use in accordance with rules – Obligation to repay – Conditions for granting the allowance met at the time of the application – No effect (see paras 122-124)

4.                     European Parliament – Regulation governing the payment of expenses and allowances to Members of the European Parliament – Parliamentary assistance allowance – Provider of parliamentary assistance services not having honoured his tax obligations arising from the fees relating thereto – Liability of the MEP making the application vis-à-vis the Parliament – None (see paras 150-155)

Re:

APPLICATION for annulment of Decision D (2009) 4639 of the Secretary-General of the European Parliament of 29 January 2009 concerning the recovery of sums paid to the applicant by way of parliamentary allowances.

Operative part

The Court:

1. Annuls Decision D (2009) 4639 of the Secretary-General of the European Parliament of 29 January 2009 as regards the recovery of the sum of GBP 193 001;

2. Dismisses the action as to the remainder;

3. Orders the Parliament and Mr Densmore Ronald Dover each to bear their own costs.