Official Journal of the European Union

C series

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C/2025/3497

7.7.2025

(Case C-224/25 P)

(C/2025/3497)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Appellant: La Maison de l’Union syndicale (represented by: N. de Montigny, avocate)

Other party to the proceedings: Council of the European Union

Form of order sought

The appellant claims that the Court should:

—uphold the appeal and set aside the judgment under appeal;

—declare the direct action admissible;

—refer the case back to the General Court for a decision on the merits;

—order the respondent to pay the costs incurred by the appellant in the present proceedings and in the proceedings at first instance.

Ground of appeal and main arguments

The appellant puts forward a single ground of appeal alleging that the General Court erred in its application of Article 263 TFEU in that it interpreted and applied in an erroneously restrictive manner the conditions required by the Treaty to justify the admissibility of an action for annulment brought by a legal person and, more specifically, by an organisation representing staff.

That restrictive interpretation concerns the conditions of direct and individual concern regarding the appellant, in breach of the functional interpretation to be given to the provision. Article 263 TFEU must be interpreted in such a way as to comply with the principle of procedural economy. That principle provides justification for the fact that an association may have an individual interest in representing its own interests but also the collective interests it defends. By its legal analysis of Article 263 TFEU, the General Court infringed the appellant’s right of access to the courts and its right to an effective remedy.

Depriving the appellant of the right to bring a direct action against the contested decision also deprives it, in the context of an agreement concluded between it and the Council, of the right to challenge the unlawful conduct of the respondent, based on the infringement of a contractual provision, and is therefore contrary to Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and to the right to effective judicial review designed to ensure compliance with EU law inherent in the rule of law.

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ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/3497/oj

ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)

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