The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that the Belgian Karel Pinxten, former member of the European Court of Auditors from 2006 to 2018, has forfeited two thirds of his pension rights in a judgment handed down on Thursday 30 September (case C-130/19).
Based on the opinion of the Advocate General (see EUROPE 12627/23), the Court finds that the former Belgian minister has breached the obligations arising from his office as a member of the European Court of Auditors in relation to: – the undeclared and illegal exercise of an activity within the Open VLD political party; – misuse of resources to finance activities unrelated to the duties of a Member of the Court of Auditors; – misuse of a fuel card for the benefit of third parties; and – the existence of a conflict of interest in a relationship with the head of an audited entity.
As such, Mr Pinxten was responsible for breaches of a significant degree of seriousness and thus breached the obligations arising from his office (Article 286, para 6 of the TFEU).
The Court may declare the total or partial disqualification of a Member of the Court of Auditors from receiving a pension, depending on the seriousness of the irregularities found. Among the aggravating circumstances, it notes that during his two terms of office, Mr Pinxten deliberately and repeatedly disregarded the rules applicable within the institution and that he frequently attempted to conceal his violations of these rules. Moreover, the irregularities committed contributed to a large extent to his personal enrichment. And this behaviour has caused the Court of Auditors significant damage to its finances, image, and reputation.
However, there are elements that mitigate Mr Pinxten’s responsibility, the EU judge said. He acquired his right to a pension over 12 years of service during which the quality of his work has been recognised. On the other hand, the perpetuation of the irregularities found was encouraged by the ambiguity of the Court of Auditors’ internal rules and allowed by the shortcomings of internal controls.
See the judgment: https://bit.ly/3zU7fyA (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)