Action brought on 8 March 2024 – EUSPA v Eastern Airways (UK)

(Case T-155/24)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: European Union Agency for the Space Programme (represented by: E. Villa, agent)

Defendant: Eastern Airways (UK) Ltd (Sutton Coldfield, United Kingdom)

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:

order the defendant to repay the sum of EUR 247 033.60, together with late payment interest amounting to 3.50% of the principal amount from 21 September 2021 until payment; and

order the defendant to pay the costs of the proceedings.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of the action, the applicant relies on a single plea in law.

The applicant alleges it is entitled to the repayment of the pre-financing amount granted for the purposes of Grant Agreement No. GSA/GRANT/EGNOS/02/2014 (‘the Grant Agreement’), since:

the defendant did not implement the Action, as specified in Annex I of the Grant Agreement, and failed to comply with its substantial contractual obligations under the Grant Agreement, which led to the rightful termination of the latter;

the gravity of the defendant’s failings justifies the full recovery of the aforementioned pre-financing amount, since no objectives of the Action were reached by the time of the rightful termination of the Grant Agreement and the Action did not yield any results envisaged by the defendant in its proposal;

the applicant took all prescribed procedural steps prior to recovery.

____________