Type: Judgment

Authority: European Authorities: Euopean Communities' Court of Justice

Date: 02/19/2009

Subject: The Court dismissed the appeal of a former Member of the European Parliament who asked the Court to set aside the order of the Court of First Instance concernig the decision of the Secretary General of the European Parliament. In support of his appeal, the appellant raised the infringement of the rights of the defence, of the right to a fair trial; of the right to an impartial tribunal, and of the principle of sound administration. According to the Court, the fact that the judges who heard and determined a case initially may sit in another formation hearing and determining the same case again is not in itself incompatible with the requirements of a fair trial. This situation is in itself irrelevant to the assessment of compliance with the requirement of impartiality, since those duties are performed in a collegiate formation of the court. The plea raised by the appellant was based exclusively on an infringement of Article 20 of the Code of Good Behaviour, pursuant to which, first, the institution is to ensure that decisions which affect the rights or interests of individual persons are notified in writing, as soon as the decision has been taken, to the person or persons concerned and, second, that it must abstain from communicating the decision to other sources until the person or persons concerned have been informed. The Court concluded that, contrary to the appellant’s submissions, the Court of First Instance, before ruling on the nature of the Code of Good Behaviour, observed that that decision did not constitute the final decision adversely affecting the appellant and that the fact that it was not communicated to him could not therefore harm the appellant’s rights.

Parties: Koldo Gorostiaga Atxalandabaso c/ Parlamento europeo

Classification: Citizens’ rights - Art. 41 Right to good administration by the bodies of the union - Justice - Art. 47 Independent and impartial tribunal

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