WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1107/98 by Panayotis LAMBRIAS to the Commission. Speeding up the procedure for examining infringements of Community law
Date: 1998-04-08
Institutions: European Parliament, LAMBRIAS
Subjects: EU law, conciliation procedure (part of ordinary legislative procedure), infringement of EU law, judicial proceedings, limitation of legal proceedings

22.12.98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 402/75

(98/C 402/092)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1107/98

by Panayotis Lambrias (PPE) to the Commission

(8 April 1998)

Subject: Speeding up the procedure for examining infringements of Community law

The European Parliament, certain professional bodies and non-governmental organizations have asked the
Commission to speed up the procedure for examining infringements of Community law. Despite the measures
taken by the Commission hitherto, the speed of the procedure is unsatisfactory and justifiably gives rise to claims
for compensation by the parties involved.

What measures will the Commission take:

1.

2.

to limit the period of time for the consultation procedure with the Member State concerned before applying
Article 169 of the Treaty, and

to set a clear deadline for the Member State(cid:146)s answer or compliance after sending a letter of formal notice or a
reasoned opinion or bringing the matter before the Court of Justice?

Answer given by Mr Santer on behalf of the Commission

(15 May1998)

The Commission attaches high priority to its function as guardian of the Treaties, and it does all that is in its
power to improve the operation of the Article 169 procedure. As it stated in its Fourteenth Report on Monitoring
the Application of Community Law, (1) it has taken a series of internal measures to speed up Article 169
infringement proceedings.

Where the Commission receives a complaint, it endeavours to take a decision on the substance, that is to say a
decision to issue an Article 169 letter or to close the case, within a year. To meet this deadline, it has greatly
reduced the preliminary correspondence with the Member State prior to the commencement of proceedings. It
also tries to ensure that conciliation meetings with Member States are not used to slow the procedure down. As it
states in its Fifteenth Report on Monitoring the Application of Community Law, due to be laid before Parliament
shortly, the result has been that cases are now processed more quickly.

As a rule the Commission allows two months for a reply to an Article 169 letter. Reasoned opinions do not give
the Member State a period within which to reply, but a period is set within which it must put an end to the
infringement. In urgent cases the period can be as short as a month or even a fortnight. In practice the
Commission is now enforcing the period more and more strictly.

(1) COM(97) 299 final.

(98/C 402/093)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1115/98

by Hartmut Nassauer (PPE) to the Commission

(8 April 1998)

Subject: Budget heading B-4113 › programmes for the integration of refugees › report on the implementation

and selection of projects in 1997 › Annex 1: list of projects supported

Annex I of the report on the implementation and selection of projects in 1997, with regard to budget heading
B-4113 › programmes for the integration of refugees, contains a list of projects selected for funding in 1997.
The list of projects supported in Germany (points 10-24) give rise to the following questions:

What amounts were paid for the various projects?

What specific grants were made?