91998E2588

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2588/98

by Jens-Peter Bonde (I-EDN) to the Council

(1 September 1998)

Subject: Unpublished declarations to minutes of Council meetings

Are there any declarations to the minutes of Council meetings that were not published in 1997 and 1998 and, if so, how many and on what subjects?

Reply

(9 November 1998)

1. In 1997, 361 statements for the minutes of Council meetings at which legislative acts were adopted were published.

However, on 20 January 1997 when the Council adopted Directive 97/3/EC amending Directive 77/93/EEC on protective measures against the introduction into the Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products and against their spread within the Community(1), one statement was not published.

2. In the first six months of 1998, 170 statements for the minutes of Council meetings at which legislative acts were adopted were published.

However, on 23 March 1998 when the Council adopted:

- a Council Decision on the conclusion on behalf of the Community of the Convention on Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents, one statement was not published;

- a Council Decision on the conclusion by the European Community of the Protocol to the 1979 Convention on long-range transboundary air pollution on further reductions of sulphur emissions, two statements were not published.

As the Honourable Member can see, 99,72 % of statements were published in 1997 and 98,24 % in the first half of 1998.

(1) OJ L 27, 30.1.1997, p. 30.