Judgment of the General Court (Appeal Chamber) of 14 November 2017 — De Meyer and Others v Commission

(Case T‑667/16 P)

(Appeal — Civil service — Officials — Promotion — 2014 promotion exercise — List of officials proposed for promotion by the Directors-General and heads of service — Omission of the appellants’ names — Obligation to state reasons — No error of law — No distortion of the evidence — Application for the recusal of a judge)

1.      Appeal — Pleas in law — Review by the General Court of the assessment of the evidence made by the Civil Service Tribunal — Possible only where the clear sense of the evidence has been distorted — Plea alleging distortion of the clear sense of the evidence — Need to indicate precisely the evidence alleged to have been distorted and show the errors of appraisal which led to that distortion

(Art. 256 TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 58, first para.; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 195(2))

(see paras 16, 17)

2.      Officials — Promotion — Consideration of comparative merits — Procedures — Administration’s discretion — Establishment of a system based on assessors’ comments, without recourse to marks or analytical assessments — Lawfulness — Conditions

(Staff Regulations of Officials, Arts 43 and 45)

(see paras 18-22)

3.      Officials — Promotion — Consideration of comparative merits — Prior consideration of files within each directorate-general — Lawfulness — Subsequent consideration a matter for the promotions committee then the appointing authority — Scope

(Staff Regulations of Officials, Art. 45(1))

(see paras 24-27, 30, 31)

4.      Officials — Promotion — Consideration of comparative merits — Consultation of candidates’ personal files — Explanation of the use made of the available information — Duty of the administration — None

(Staff Regulations of Officials, Art. 45)

(see para. 28)

5.      Officials — Promotion — Complaint by a candidate not promoted — Rejection decision — Obligation to state reasons — Scope

(Art. 270 TFEU; Staff Regulations of Officials, Arts 25 and 90(2))

(see paras 41, 43, 44)

Re:

APPEAL brought against the judgment of the European Union Civil Service Tribunal (Single Judge) of 20 July 2016, Adriaen and Others v Commission (F‑113/15, EU:F:2016:162), and seeking to have that judgment set aside.

Operative part

The Court:

1. Dismisses the appeal.

2. Orders Mr Pieter De Meyer and the other officials whose names appear in the annex to bear their own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission in the present appeal proceedings.