Notice for the OJ

 

Action brought on 6 February 2004 by Emma Bonino and seven other applicants against European Parliament and Council of the European Union

    (Case T-40/04)

    (Language of the case: French)

An action against the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 3 February 2004 by Emma Bonino and Others, represented by Georges Vandersanden and Laure Levi, lawyers.

The applicants claim that the Court should:

Annul Regulation (EC) No 2004/2003 of European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 on the regulations governing political parties at European level and the rules regarding their funding;

Make an appropriate order as to costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In these proceedings, the act whose annulment is sought is the same as in Cases T-13/04 Donde and Others v European Parliament and Council and T-17/04 National Front and Others v European Parliament and Council; the pleas and main arguments are similar to those put forward in those cases.

The applicants also claim that the contested regulation infringes the EC Treaty in that it provides that the European Parliament is to combine the powers of joint legislature and executor.

They further claim that there has been a breach of the principle of democracy, in that the applicants are in a situation such that, although sitting in the European Parliament follow free democratic elections, they are precluded from financing from the general budget of the Union because they are not recognised as a political party at European level.

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