Judgment of the General Court of 24 February 2022 — Thomas and Julien v Council

(Case T-442/21) (1)

(Action for annulment - Area of freedom, security and justice - Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and Euratom, of the one part, and the United Kingdom, of the other part - Council decision on the conclusion of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement - Act not of individual concern - Non-regulatory act - Inadmissibility)

(2022/C 171/51)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicants: Rhiannon Thomas (London, United Kingdom), Michaël Julien (Weybridge, United Kingdom) (represented by: J. Fouchet, lawyer)

Defendant: Council of the European Union (represented by: M. Bauer, J. Ciantar and R. Meyer, acting as Agents)

Re:

By their action based on Article 263 TFEU, the applicants, who are United Kingdom nationals residing in the United Kingdom, seek partial annulment, first, of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the other part (OJ 2021 L 149, p. 10) and, second, of Council Decision (EU) 2021/689 of 29 April 2021 on the conclusion, on behalf of the Union, of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the other part, and of the Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning security procedures for exchanging and protecting classified information (OJ 2021 L 149, p. 2).

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1.	Dismisses the action as inadmissible;

2.	Declares that there is no longer any need to rule on the application to intervene of the European Commission;

3.	Orders Ms Rhiannon Thomas and Mr Michaël Julien to bear their own costs and to pay those incurred by the Council of the European Union, with the exception of those relating to the application to intervene;

4.	Orders Ms Thomas, Mr Julien, the Council and the Commission each to bear their own costs relating to the application to intervene.

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(1)  OJ C 412, 11.10.2021.