ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

29 June 1994

Case T-146/94 R

Calvin Williams

v

Court of Auditors of the European Communities

‛Officials — Procedure for interim relief — Suspension of operation of a measure — Disciplinary proceedings — Removal from post’

Full text in French   II-571

Application for:

suspension of the operation of the decision removing the applicant from his post without withdrawal of entitlement to retirement pension pursuant to Article 86(2)(f) of the Staff Regulations.

Decision:

Application dismissed.

Abstract of the Order

The applicant was removed from his post after publishing written material questioning the honour of members of the Court of Auditors. He brought an action for annulment and an application for suspension of the operation of that decision.

The Court points out that it is for the party seeking the grant of interim measures to prove that he cannot await the outcome of the main action without suffering damage that would have serious and irreparable consequences (paragraph 12).

See: T-549/93 Rflv Commission [1993] ECR II-1347, para. 42; T-108/94 R Candiotte v Council [1994] ECR, para. 19

The Court considers that although, as a matter of principle, purely financial damage of the kind alleged by the applicant cannot be regarded as irreparable, or even as being repairable only with difficulty, since it can, as in the present case, ultimately be the subject of financial compensation, it nevertheless falls to the judge hearing the application for interim measures to determine whether operation of the contested decision to remove the applicant from his post may cause him damage, even of a financial nature, that is so serious that the annulment of that decision at the conclusion of the main action would no longer be capable of repairing it (paragraphs 17, 18 and 20).

See: D v Commission, cited above, para. 45

That is not so in the present case. Whilst the institution has stopped the payment of any remuneration to the applicant following the decision to remove him from his post, he may nevertheless apply at any time for early commencement of his retirement pension, the amount of which, together with cover by the Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme of the European Community Institutions, would place him in a financial position enabling him to meet his essential expenses (paragraphs 21 and 22).

It thus follows from the balancing of the parties' interests, which the judge hearing the application for interim measures has to undertake, that to suspend the operation of the contested decision, and thereby allow an official who has been removed for misconduct regarded as serious to continue in his post, would be out of proportion to the damage alleged by the applicant, because, if the contested decision is annulled, the institution will have to reinstate him and restore all his rights with retrospective effect from the date of the decision to remove him, and because the difference between the total amount of the pension taken early and the total amount of the pension which the applicant would receive if he did not start drawing it until the age of 60 does not, in the long term and taking account of the applicant's life expectancy, constitute damage that is sufficiently serious to justify the intervention of the judge hearing the application for interim measures (paragraphs 23 to 25).

Operative part:

The application for interim measures is dismissed.