Keywords
Summary

Keywords

++++

1. Actions for annulment of measures ° Actionable measures ° Definition ° Acts of the representatives of the Governments of the Member States meeting in the Council ° Excluded

(EEC Treaty, Arts 149, 155 and 173)

2. Actions for annulment of measures ° Parliament' s right to bring actions ° Budgetary measure liable to infringe the prerogatives of the Parliament ° Entry in the Community budget of revenue and expenditure relating to aid granted within the framework of a collective action of the Member States ° Excluded

(EEC Treaty, Arts 173, 199 and 203)

Summary

1. Whilst an action for annulment is available in the case of all measures adopted by the Community institutions, whatever their nature, form or wording, which are intended to have legal effects, acts adopted by representatives of the Member States acting not in their capacity as members of the Council but as representatives of their governments, and thus collectively exercising the powers of the Member States, are not subject to judicial review by the Court.

A decision of the representatives of the Member States on humanitarian aid for a non-member country, a field in which the Community does not have exclusive competence, is thus not a Community measure against which an action may be brought. It makes no difference that the decision refers to a proposal from the Commission, since such a proposal is not necessarily a proposal under Article 149 of the Treaty; or that the aid is to be administered by the Commission, since Article 155 of the Treaty does not prevent the Commission from being entrusted by the Member States with the task of coordinating an action which they undertake collectively on the basis of an act of their representatives meeting in the Council; or that the contributions of the Member States are determined by a formula identical to that used for their contributions to the Community budget, since nothing prevents the application of such a formula for an action decided by the representatives of the Member States; or that part of the aid may be entered in the Community budget, since such an entry, which is not required by the decision in question, cannot affect the way in which it is categorized.

2. The entry in the Community budget of revenue and expenditure concerning aid granted within the framework of a collective action of the Member States and financed directly by them cannot infringe the Parliament' s budgetary prerogatives, and hence cannot be challenged by an action for annulment brought by the Parliament under Article 173 of the Treaty. The Member States' contributions to the aid in question are not items of Community revenue within the meaning of Article 199 of the Treaty, nor does the expenditure relating thereto constitute Community expenditure. The entry in the Community budget of the corresponding sums therefore does not amend the budget, so that it does not require intervention by the Parliament under the powers conferred on it by Article 203 of the Treaty.