Magherita Macevicius (épouse Hebrant) v European Parliament (252/81)

I —Facts and procedure

The applicant, a qualified librarian, took up duties with the European Parliament on 1 December 1967 and has taken part in the management and administration of the library since that date. On 1 January 1973 she was classified in Grade A 4 as a Principal Administrator.In 1972 the Parliament appointed Mr Taylor as Head of the Directorate-General for Research and Documentation, which is responsible for the library, and on 23 September 1974 it authorized him to carry out the reforms which he had planned.From the outset, the applicant was opposed to the measures for the reorganization of the library recommended by Mr Taylor. In the context of those measures, the Director-General had appointed a Mr Reid, an employee in Grade A 5, to carry out the reorganization. The applicant disputed that appointment by bringing an action before the Court on 31 July 1975 even though the appointment had been revoked in April of that year. The action was dismissed by a judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 20 May 1976 (Case 66/75 Macevičius v Parliament [1976] ECR593).On 24 March 1976 the applicant brought a second action seeking principally the annulment of her periodic report for the period 1973 to 1974. The disputed report, dated 19 March 1975, which according to the applicant contained assessments not consistent with those in earlier reports (that is to say, reports made before Mr Taylor became Director-General), was described by the applicant as constituting “serious ... abuse of powers by a director-general in the performance of his administrative duties”. However, that action too was dismissed by a judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 12 May 1977 (Case 31/76 Macevičius v Parliament [1977] ECR 883).Certain structural changes were to be carried out in 1978 and 1979 in the Cataloguing and Library Administration Division of the library of the European Parliament, of which the applicant is in charge, and in the Reference, Information and Documentation Division of which Mr Reid, also a Principal Administrator in Grade A 4, is in charge. Various preparatory documents relating to the budget and the organization of the European Parliament, originating from the Secretary-General and from the Committee on Budgets in particular, suggested a conversion of post for those two heads of section from Grade A 5/4 to Grade A 3.In a memorandum dated 5 September 1979 addressed to the Secretary-General of the Parliament and relating to the adoption of the 1980 budget, Mr Taylor, Director-General for Research and Documentation, referring to the budgetary limits fixed by Parliament in a resolution dated 10 May 1979, proposed only that the post of Head of the Reference, Information and Documentation Division should be converted to Grade A3 for the budgetary year 1980 and did not mention the Cataloguing and Library Administration Division. The proposal, was accepted and later adopted by the Secretary-General and by the Parliament's Committee on Budgets.In a letter to the President of the Parliament dated 6 November 1979 and registered on 12 November 1979, the applicant complained that the Cataloguing and Library Administration Division had not been considered with regard to the requests for conversion of posts. According to the applicant, this was an example of a systematic administrative policy pursued by Mr Taylor aimed at upgrading the post of the head of the Reference, Information and Documentation Division to the detriment of the Cataloguing and Library Administration Division.On 14 July 1980 Vacancy Notice No 2677 was published, advertising a post of head of division (Grade A 3), a regraded post to be included in the detailed list of posts for 1980 for the Directorate of the Reference, Information and Documentation Division. On 11 June 1980 the applicant brought an action seeking principally the annulment of the nomination of Mr Reid alone for promotion to Grade A 3 and, in the alternative, that she and Mr Reid should both be promoted to Grade A 3. However, by an order made on 18 November 1980 the Court (Third Chamber) dismissed the action as inadmissible (Case 141/80 [1980] ECR 3509).The applicant did not submit an application for the vacancy mentioned above. After examination of the applications received, five in number, the appointing authority appointed Mr Reid as Head of Division in Grade A 3 by a decision of 24 October 1980 published on 25 November 1980. On 20 February 1981 the applicant submitted a complaint against the decision pursuant to Article 90 (2) of the Staff Regulations. Following the implied rejection of that complaint she brought this action on 16 September 1981, which was registered at the Court on the same day.On hearing the report of the Judge-Rapporteur and the views of the Advocate General, the Court (Second Chamber) decided to open the oral proceedings without any preparatory inquiry.