Judgment_paragraph 147 · CQ v European Parliament (F-12/13)

147In that regard, the Tribunal observes, first, that in its work, the Committee on Harassment is not bound by strict rules of procedure that would require it to hear the applicant a second time, if that Committee considers it unnecessary to do so. Its role is advisory and its opinion does not constitute an act adversely affecting the applicant. Furthermore, the Tribunal notes that the applicant and the Head of Unit are not in the same position before the Committee on Harassment. The Head of the Unit must be able to defend herself, as stated in the second paragraph of Article 10 of the internal rules, against the complaint made to the Committee by the applicant. In those circumstances, the fact that the Head of Unit was given an additional opportunity to answer the allegations made against her cannot demonstrate an infringement of the applicant’s rights of defence by the Committee on Harassment or an infringement by that Committee of its duty of impartiality. In any event, the applicant has failed to indicate which elements referred to during the second hearing of the Head of Unit she would have liked to take a position on and to what extent a position taken by the applicant would have led the Committee on Harassment to come to a different conclusion.