21.2.2009

Official Journal of the European Union

C 44/37

(Case C-566/08)

(2009/C 44/63)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicant: European Parliament (represented by R. Passos, G. Mazzini and D. Gauci, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Council of the European Union

Form of order sought

—annul, on the ground of breach of the EC Treaty, Council Decision 2008/780/EC of 29 September 2008 on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Community, of the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (1);

—order the Council to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The European Parliament relies on a single plea in law in support of its application, namely the wrong legal basis of the contested decision. According to the Parliament, it is clear both from the interpretation of Article 300 EC and from the content of the agreement at issue in the present case that that agreement falls within the category of agreements establishing a specific institutional framework by organising cooperation procedures. Consequently, the contested decision should have been adopted on the basis of Article 37 EC in conjunction with the first sentence of the first subparagraph of Article 300(2) EC and the second subparagraph of Article 300(3) EC — requiring the assent of the European Parliament to be obtained — and not on the basis of Article 37 EC in conjunction with the first sentence of the first subparagraph of Article 300(2) EC and the first subparagraph of Article 300(3) EC, providing merely for the Parliament to be consulted.

(1) OJ 2008 L 268, p. 27.