Notice for the OJ

 

SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1

Action brought on 7 November 2003 by Vincenzo le Voci against the Council of the European Union

(Case T-371/03)

Language of the case: English

An action against the Council of the European Union was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 7 November 2003 by Vincenzo le Voci, Brussels, (Belgium), represented by B. van de Wal and E. Oude Elferink, lawyers.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

-    declare the internal competition A/270 invalid and void, or at least declare invalid the decision of the Selection Board of 28 July 2003 not to admit the applicant to the oral test;

-    order the defendant to pay the costs of the applicant

Pleas in law and main arguments:

The challenged Decision in the present case is the non-admission of the applicant to the oral test of the internal competition A/270, which offered grade B officials to acquire grade A.

In support of his conclusions, the applicant claims that:

- the content of one of the written tests (A 1) was not confined within the limits that were laid down in the notice of the competition. With regard to this, it is stated that instead of making an analysis of a file with respect to a particular EU issue and summarizing it, the candidates were also expected to give their own strategic input. The test required an approach, and the application of different intellectual and writing skills, other than those for which the candidates were prepared. This deviation constitutes a breach of the requirements for the notification of competitions as laid down in Article 1, Annex III, of the Staff Regulations.

- One of the working documents handed out for the A 1 tests contained contradictions and errors. These imperfections constitute a breach of both the principle of non-discrimination and the principle of good management and sound administration.

- The Spanish version of one of the working documents contained additional fundamental errors. This constitutes a breach of the principle of non-discrimination between candidates of different nationalities participating in the test.

- They have reasons to believe that the mastery of the Italian language within the Selection Board was not sufficient to objectively assess the Italian tests, which would constitute a breach of the principle of non-discrimination.

- There has been a lack of non-discriminatory standards for the evaluation of the written test and lack of transparency due to the lack of an evaluation memorandum, both of which impaired the possibility of judicial scrutiny and control.

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