Appeal brought on 24 January 2008 by Giuseppe Gargani against the order of the Court of First Instance (Third Chamber) of 21 November 2007 in Case T-94/06 Giuseppe Gargani v European Parliament

(Case C-25/08 P)

(2008/C 79/35)

Language of the case: German

Parties

Appellant: Giuseppe Gargani (represented by: W. Rothley, Rechtsanwalt)

Other party to the proceedings: European Parliament

Form of order sought

Pleas in law and main arguments

The Court of First Instance failed to give the appellant a fair hearing by failing to address the appellant's submissions and, instead, changing the parties and then declaring the action to be inadmissible.

The action, which was brought by the Chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs, not (as stated in the order under appeal) by an individual as such, is expressly directed against the then President of the European Parliament, and not against the European Parliament itself or against a ‘natural person’. The Court of First Instance regards the appellant as any Italian applicant seeking a declaration that the conduct of the European Parliament is unlawful, and the President of the European Parliament at the time as any Spanish defendant being accused in respect of the unlawful conduct of the President of the European Parliament.

The Court of First Instance failed to ascertain whether the judicial system provides a means of redress that would enable the chairman of a committee to apply for a declaration of unlawfulness in respect of the conduct of the President of the European Parliament where the latter exceeds his powers under the Rules of Procedure and thereby infringes the participation rights of a committee chairman or of the Parliament as a whole.