WRITTEN QUESTION E-1499/96 by David Martin (PSE) to the Commission (12 June 1996)

Subject: Annual General Report

The Commission's Annual General Report on the activities of the European Union contains a number of statistics which appear to contradict those available from other sources:

1. Paragraph 1050 states that the Council held 76 meetings in 1995, whereas the Press Services of the Council itself states that there were 79 meetings.

2. The report refers (Paragraph 690) to four joint actions adopted under Article J 3 of the Treaty on European Union, whereas the annual resolution of the European Parliament (Matutes report, explanatory statement, point II, 3) refers to 10 common actions. There is a similar discrepancy from the same sources concerning the number of common positions (12 or 13).

3. The report (Paragraph 959) refers to four conventions drawn up under Title VI of the Treaty (Justice and Home Affairs), whereas Parliament's resolution of 14 December lists five such conventions.

4. This year for the first time, the Commission fails to mention the number of decisions that it has taken itself pursuant to its own powers (Paragraph 1057).

5. The figures concerning the European Parliament's proceedings in 1995 (table 21 in the Annual General Report) differ slightly from those published by Parliament itself (EP Bulletin Nr. 2/A/1996 of 12 February 1996).

Would the Commission please comment on these figures and, where necessary, correct them?

Answer given by Mr Santer on behalf of the Commission (11 July 1996)

1. The 76 meetings referred to in the 1995 General Report are all ordinary, numbered meetings * from No 1824 on 16 January (Economic and Financial Affairs) to No 1899 on 21 and 22 December (Fisheries). Included in the 79 meetings referred to by the Honourable Member are three special, unnumbered meetings, i.e. the meeting of 15 February on preparations for the second ministerial conference to renegotiate the Fourth Lomé Convention, the meeting of 22 June on the eighth European Development Fund and the meeting of 30 June on negotiations on services at the World Trade Organization.

2. The General Report mentions ten joint actions adopted in 1995 under Article J.3 of the Treaty on European Union. Point 690 mentions only the four most important but the other six, supplementing, repealing or amending existing actions are referred to at other points (695, 697 and 845). With regard to the common positions adopted under Article J.2, only the twelve which were recorded in numbered decisions and published in the Official Journal were mentioned at point 690 of the General Report. The thirteenth, adopted on 6 October, concerned the possible grouping of diplomatic missions and was not published in the Official Journal.

3. As indicated at point 959 of the General Report, four conventions were signed in 1995 under Title VI of the Treaty on European Union. The Convention on insolvency procedures, included in the Parliament Resolution of 14 December but not in the General Report, was not actually signed but merely opened for signature by the Member States on 23 November 1995. It has still not been signed. Furthermore, the Convention comes under Article 220 of the EC Treaty rather than Title VI of the Treaty on European Union.

4. For technical reasons, the figures on instruments adopted by the Commission in 1995 were not available in time for inclusion in the General Report. The figures are as follows: 3025 decisions, 2801 regulations, 298 opinions, 35 directives and 25 recommendations.

5. Table 21 on Parliamentary proceedings in 1995 was supplied by Parliament itself in January 1996.