Notice for the OJ

 

Action brought on 29 July 2004 by Athanasios Pitsiorlas against the Council of the European Union and the European Central Bank

(Case T-337/04)

Language of the Case: Greek

An action against the Council of the European Union and the European Central Bank was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 29 July 2004 by Athanasios Pitsiorlas, resident in Thessaloniki, Greece, represented by Dimitrios Papafilippou, lawyer.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

-    order the two Community institutions jointly and severally to pay to him (i) as compensation for material damage, the sum which will result from the relevant calculations of the salary for the equivalent post at the ECB, over the period from April 2001 until three months after delivery of the Court of First Instance's judgment if it is favourable for the applicant, less his income as a lawyer in the corresponding period, and (ii) the sum of EUR 90 000 for non-material damage, together with legal interest from the bringing of the action;

-    order the two Community institutions to pay his court and other costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicant previously brought an action before the Court of First Instance (Case T-3/00) ¹ for annulment of the refusal of the Council and the European Central Bank to allow him access to the 'Basle/Nyborg' Agreement on the reinforcement of the European Monetary System. The applicant argued that he needed the agreement in order to complete the doctoral thesis that he was writing.

In his present action, the applicant pleads that the refusal of the Council and the European Central Bank to allow him access was unlawful for the same reasons as those pleaded by him in the previous action. In addition he pleads that, by reason of the refusal, he has been unable up until now to complete his doctoral thesis. He submits that as the possessor of a doctoral thesis specialising in economic and monetary law he would succeed in obtaining a job as a lawyer in an international body or organisation. He thus considers that he has suffered material damage equal to the difference between (i) the salary that he would have received from such a job in the period from April 2001 - when he would have completed his doctoral thesis and found such a job - until three months after delivery of the Court of First Instance's judgment and (ii) his past and future earnings over the same period working as a lawyer in Greece. By his action he thus seeks compensation for that material loss and the award of damages for non-material harm.

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¹ - OJ No C 122, 29.4.00, p. 35.