Mugabe ally loses EU sanctions compensation case

27      It is necessary, first of all, to examine the complaint that there is no legal basis for the contested acts, then the complaint alleging breach of essential procedural requirements and, lastly, the two other complaints concerning the substantive legality of those acts.

 The claim that there is no legal basis for the contested acts

28      The applicants state that Articles 60 and 301 EC, on which Regulation No 314/2004 is based, concern, at most, third countries and their leaders as well as individuals and entities associated with those leaders or controlled by them. However, none of the applicants falls into any of those categories, even if it were accepted that the first applicant had strong ties with the Zimbabwean Government, which the applicants dispute. It is not any type of association at all, irrespective of personal conduct, that warrants the inclusion of the name of a Zimbabwean business man on the list of persons referred to in Article 6 of that regulation. According to the applicants, the right to effective judicial protection means that they may seek reparation for the harm suffered as a result of the fact that there was no legal basis for the contested acts, which were therefore unlawful. At all events, they submit that even if the first applicant were to be considered to have links with the Zimbabwean Government, that would not entitle the institutions concerned automatically to add the names of the second and third applicants and that of Breco International to the lists in question.

29      By that line of argument, the applicants claim, in essence, that, interpreted in the light of Articles 60 and 301 EC, which form its legal basis, Article 6 of Regulation No 314/2004 is directed at third countries and their leaders and, insofar as concerns natural or legal persons, at most those directly associated with or controlled by those leaders, not business men and undertakings such as the applicants.

30      Article 60(1) EC provides that, if, in the cases envisaged by Article 301 EC, action by the Community is deemed necessary, the Council may take the necessary urgent measures on the movement of capital and on payments as regards the third countries concerned. According to Article 301 EC, where provision is made, in a common position or in a joint action adopted according to the Treaty on European Union relating to the CFSP, for action by the Community to interrupt or to reduce, in part or completely, economic relations with one or more third countries, the Council is to take the necessary urgent measures.

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