#62025TJ0030EU General Court rejects Parliament staff member’s challenge to 2022 appraisal and merit point
AI-generated summary for informational purposes only. Not legal advice. See the original source for the authoritative text.
This judgment upholds the European Parliament’s 2022 staff appraisal and merit-point decision for an official who challenged the process, the fairness of the assessor, and the handling of her personal data. The court found no proven bias, no legal duty to set formal yearly objectives, and no basis to cancel the report or the merit award. For EU institutions, the case confirms that appraisal interviews, consultation with work coordinators, and use of draft reports can be lawful if they stay within the staff-report rules. For employees, it shows that complaints need clear, specific facts and that general claims of hostility or unfairness are not enough to overturn a report.
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Key Changes
- Confirms the Parliament can use its appraisal process and consult internal coordinators when preparing staff reports
- Says EU staff reports do not need formal annual objectives unless the rules specifically require them
- Sets a high bar for claims of bias, duty-of-care breaches, and personal-data complaints in appraisal disputes
Obligations
What this law requires
EU institutions handling staff appraisal procedures must ensure objective and subjective impartiality; officials involved in appraisals must act objectively and impartially, and the procedure must provide sufficient guarantees to exclude legitimate doubts about bias.
When challenging a staff report, the employee must provide sufficiently precise, objective, and consistent evidence of bias; generalized allegations of hostility or unfairness are not enough to rebut the presumption of impartiality.
In appraisal proceedings, the institution may consult work coordinators about draft reports where this is allowed by the internal staff-report rules and connected to the legitimate exercise of the appraisal task.
Processing personal data in the context of staff appraisal is permitted only when it is necessary for a task carried out in the legitimate exercise of the institution’s official authority under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725.
An application to the General Court must clearly and precisely state the subject matter, the pleas in law, and a sufficient summary of the arguments; if it does not, the plea may be rejected as inadmissible.