EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 513/35

(Case T-691/21)

(2021/C 513/50)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicants: Alcogroup (Brussels, Belgium) and Alcodis (Brussels) (represented by: P. de Bandt, C. Binet and M. Nuytten, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission

Form of order sought

The applicants claim that the Court should:

—annul the contested decision;

—order the Commission to pay all the costs of the present proceedings.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of the action against the Commission’s decision of 17 September 2021, requesting the applicants to reinitiate, under certain conditions, the settlement procedure in Case AT.40054 — Ethanol Benchmarks, the applicants rely on two pleas in law.

1.First plea in law, alleging infringement of the rules applicable to settlements. The applicants claim in that regard that, by adopting the contested decision requesting the applicants to reinitiate a settlement procedure under certain conditions, the Commission infringed the rules applicable to settlements. The applicable rules do not allow the Commission, on the one hand, to reopen a settlement procedure at that stage of the procedure and, on the other hand, to do so by requiring the applicants to cease all discussions as to the facts alleged against them.

2.Second plea in law, alleging infringement of the rights of the defence. The applicants submit that the Commission cannot make the opening of a new settlement procedure subject to the condition that they abandon the arguments made by them in the ordinary procedure following the failure of the first settlement procedure.