WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1748/97 by Susan WADDINGTON to the Commission. Eurostat - Household report
Date: 1997-05-11
Institutions: European Parliament, WADDINGTON
Subjects: EU publication, EU statistics, Eurostat, United Kingdom, dissemination of EU information, household, national election

C 45/96

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

10. 2. 98

Standards are drawn up by private bodies and are not legally enforceable. In some cases, the European and

2.
national legislators attach legal consequences to the use of standards.

3. - 4.
The  internal  rules  of  procedure  of  CEN  and  Cenelec  require  their  members  to  include  European
Standards, once they have been adopted, in the body of national standards. Any conflicting national standards in
the same field must be withdrawn and no further standards may be issued. The language in which CEN and
Cenelec members issue the European Standard as a national standard is at their discretion and subject to national
legislation. Standards except those relating to information and communications technology are normally made
available by the national standards institutes in the relevant national languages. The fact that CEN and Cenelec
members are obliged to adopt European Standards nationally does not necessarily mean that users are obliged to
apply them.

(1)  OJ L 109, 26.4.1983.
(2)  OJ L 100, 19.4.1994.

(98/C 45/116)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1748/97

by Susan Waddington (PSE) to the Commission

(11 May 1997)

Subject: Eurostat › Household report

In view of the Guardian newspaper(cid:146)s allegation that the Eurostat report on households has been withheld by the
Commission  until  after  the  UK  elections (1),  does  the  Commission  deny  that  this  is  the  case;  does  the
Commission agree that such behaviour would be contrary to its role as defined in the Treaties and its Decision
97/281/EC (2) of 21 April 1997 regarding the role of Eurostat, (in particular Articles 3 and 11) and, in view of the
regular occurrence of elections in the Member States, that such action would set a dangerous precedent for the
future work and transparency of the institution?

(1)  The Guardian, pages 1 and 7, 28.4.1997.
(2)  OJ L 112, 29.4.1997, p. 56.

Answer given by Mr de Silguy on behalf of the Commission

(13 June 1997)

Eurostat  statistics  in  focus,  population  and  social  conditions  No  6/1997,  Income  distribution  and  poverty  in
EU12 › 1993 was published on 14 May 1997 following normal procedures for the publication of Eurostat(cid:146)s
reports. This means the report was issued as soon as all three language versions (French, English and German) of
the report were ready, i.e. translated, formatted and printed. This process was by no means influenced by the
election in the United Kingdom.

Community  statistics  are  produced  according  to  the  principles  of  impartiality  which  means  free  from  any
pressures. Thus elections in Member States never influence the timing of the publication of statistics.

(98/C 45/117)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1751/97

by Arthur Newens (PSE) to the Commission

(27 May 1997)

Subject: Comparative value of state pensions in European Union countries

Further to the answers given  by the Commission to  Written  Questions  Nos 2620/88 (1) and 792/92 (2)  on  the
relative  value  of  state  pensions  in  European  Union  Member  States,  which  provided  a  wealth  of  highly