Joined Cases C‑237/11 and C‑238/11

French Republic

v

European Parliament

(Actions for annulment — Law governing the institutions — Calendar of plenary part-sessions of the European Parliament for 2012 and 2013 — Protocols on the location of the seats of the institutions and of certain bodies, offices, agencies and departments of the European Union)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber), 13 December 2012

1.        Actions for annulment — Actionable measures — Measures of the Parliament intended to have legal effects outside its internal sphere — Vote adopting the calendar of plenary part-sessions — Whether admissible

(Art. 263 TFEU)

2.        European Union — Seat of the institutions — Protocols concerning the seats of the institutions fixing Strasbourg as the seat of the Parliament — Scope — Obligation to hold regularly twelve ordinary plenary part-sessions in Strasbourg

(Protocol No 6 annexed to the EU Treaty and to the TFEU, sole article, under point (a); Protocol No 3, annexed to the EAEC Treaty, sole article, under point (a)))

3.        European Parliament — Part-session — Vote adopting the calendar of plenary part-sessions — Vote scheduling the two plenary part-sessions for October during the same week of that month — Infringement of the protocols concerning the seats of the institutions fixing Strasbourg as the seat of the Parliament

(Protocol No 6 annexed to the EU Treaty and to the TFEU; Protocol No 3, annexed to the EAEC Treaty)

4.        Budget of the European Union — Budgetary procedure — Powers of the European Parliament — Voting requirement at the plenary part-session

(Protocol No 6, annexed to the EU Treaty and to the TFEU, sole article, under point (a); Protocol No 3, annexed to the EAEC Treaty, sole article, under point (a))

1.        See the text of the decision.

(see paras 19, 20, 69)

2.        See the text of the decision.

(see paras 37-42)

3.        By scheduling, in the votes relating to the calendar of part-sessions for 2012 and 2013, in addition to the ten monthly plenary part-sessions which take place every month except August and October, two plenary part-sessions lasting two days each during the same week of October, the European parliament infringed Protocol No 6, annexed to the EU Treaty and to the TFEU, and Protocol No 3, annexed to the EAEC Treaty, concerning the location of the seats of the institutions and of certain bodies and departments of the European Union, pursuant to which the Parliament is required to hold 12 ordinary plenary part-sessions per year in Strasbourg.

In so far as, for the month of October of 2012 and 2013, the ordinary plenary part-sessions, which take place, in line with the Parliament’s general practice, over four days, are scheduled within the same week, those part-sessions do not satisfy the requirements under the protocols concerning the seats of the institutions. The actual time available for the part‑sessions during October is reduced by more than half, with the result that the duration of those part-sessions is not equivalent to the other ordinary monthly part-sessions scheduled by the same votes.

(see paras 40, 43, 46, 48, 56, 59)

4.        As is apparent from Protocol No 6, annexed to the EU Treaty and to the TFEU, and Protocol No 3, annexed to the EAEC Treaty, concerning the location of the seats of the institutions and of certain bodies and departments of the European Union, the Parliament is required to hold annually 12 ordinary plenary part-sessions, including the one during which it is to exercise the budgetary powers conferred upon it by the Treaty.

The exercise by the Parliament of its budgetary powers in plenary sitting constitutes a fundamental event in the democratic life of the European Union and must therefore be carried out with all the attention, rigour and commitment which such a responsibility demands. The exercise of that power requires, inter alia, a public debate in plenary sitting enabling the citizens of the European Union to acquaint themselves with the various political orientations expressed and, as a result, to form a political opinion on the European Union’s actions.

(see paras 40, 68)