Judgment_paragraph 44 · European Central Bank v Maria Concetta Cerafogli (T-787/14 P)

44Since the purpose of Article 277 TFEU is not to enable a party to contest the applicability of any act of general application in support of any action whatsoever, the scope of a plea of illegality must be limited to what is necessary for the outcome of the proceedings. It follows that the general act claimed to be illegal must be applicable, directly or indirectly, to the issue with which the action is concerned and there must be a direct legal connection between the contested individual decision and the general act in question (see, to that effect, judgment of 20 November 2007, Ianniello v Commission, T‑308/04, EU:T:2007:347, paragraph 33 and the case-law cited). In that regard, the existence of such a connection may be inferred, inter alia, from the finding that the act against which the main action has been brought is essentially based on a provision of an act whose legality is contested (see, to that effect, judgments of 25 October 2006 in Carius v Commission, T‑173/04, EU:T:2006:333, paragraph 46, and of 20 November 2007 in Ianniello v Commission, T‑308/04, EU:T:2007:347, paragraph 33; see, to that effect and by analogy, judgment of 4 March 1998 in De Abreu v Court of Justice, T‑146/96, EU:T:1998:50, paragraphs 25 and 29).