Notice for the OJ

 

Action brought on 14 March 2005 by Dominique Albert-Bousquet and 142 Others against the Commission of the European Communities

(Case T-130/05)

(Language of the case: French)

An action against the Commission of the European Communities was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 14 March 2005 by Dominique Albert-Bousquet, residing in Brussels, and 142 other officials, represented by Sébastien Orlandi, Xavier Martin, Albert Coolen, Jean-Noël Louis and Etienne Marchal, lawyers, with an address for service in Luxembourg.

The applicants claim that the Court should:

annul the decisions to appoint the applicants officials of the European Communities, in so far as those decisions determine their grade of recruitment in accordance with Article 12 of Annex XIII to the Staff Regulations;

order the Commission to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicants in this case, who were all recruited after 1 May 2004 as successful candidates in competitions for which notices had been published before that date, object to the alleged discrimination arising from the fact that their conditions of classification, in accordance with Article 12 of Annex XIII to Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 723/2004 amending the Staff Regulations of Officials, are different from those of the successful candidates in the same competitions who were recruited before that amendment of the Staff Regulations.

In support of their claims, the applicants plead:

-    breach of the principle of equal treatment,

-    infringement of Articles 31(1) and 29(1) of the Staff Regulations,

-    infringement of Article 5(5) of the Staff Regulations,

-    breach of the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations.

The applicants submit in that regard that it is apparent from Community case-law that the successful candidates in a competition are in a comparable situation and must therefore be accorded the same treatment. In addition, they submitted their applications with a view to being recruited to fill one of the vacant posts referred to in the respective notices of the competitions which they passed. They were therefore entitled to foster reasonable expectations of being recruited to the posts and at the grades specified in the notices of the competitions which they passed.

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