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#Dalligate: European Court of Justice rejects Commissioner Dailli’s appeal against alleged forced resignation

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160414Dalligate2Today (14 April) the European Court of Justice rejected Commissioner John Dalli’s action suggesting that he was forced to resign, with no leave for any further appeal.

The Court held that then President of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, merely put two options to Dalli, namely voluntary resignation or resignation formally requested by the President of the Commission. The Court considered that the mere mention made by Barroso of thepossibility of using a power entrusted to him as President of the Commission cannot be equated with the actual use of that power.

Background

On 16 October 2012 a meeting took place between José Manuel Barroso, then president of the European Commission, and John Dalli, the Maltese commissioner responsible for the health and consumer protection portfolio. The Commission had received an OLAF (European Anti-Fraud Office) report concluding that Dalli had participated in several unofficial and confidential meetings with representatives of the tobacco industry, which were conducted without the knowledge or involvement of the competent Commission services. According to OLAF, the image and reputation of the Commission had been put at risk, and Dalli’s behaviour could thus be seen as a breach of his duty to behave in keeping with the dignity and the duties of his office.

Dalli claimed that, in the course of the meeting, Barroso terminated his term of office or, at the very least, required his resignation by relying on the provision of the Treaty on European Union which provides that ‘a member of the Commission shall resign if the President so requests’. The Commission disputed those allegations and contended that Dalli resigned voluntarily.

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