European Parliament v. Council (choice of legal basis for freezing of funds)

The European Parliament (EP) brings an action for annulment of Council Reg. No 1286/2009 (amending Regulation No 881/2002) imposing certain specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities associated with Usama bin Laden, the Al-Qaida network and the Taliban.

The EP claims the invalidity of the contested regulation because its legal basis should be Article 75 TFEU, rather than Article 215 TFEU. In the alternative, the EP considers that the conditions to adopt the contested regulation under the procedure laid down in Art. 215 TFEU were not fulfilled.

None of the pleas put forward by the Parliament in support of its action being well founded, that action is dismissed by the Court.