WRITTEN QUESTION E-0313/03

by Proinsias De Rossa (PSE) to the Commission

(10 February 2003)

Subject: Compliance with EU legislation

Could the Commission identify, specifying individual complaints, the relevant EU legislation, the type of action, and the date initiated, how many legal actions (i.e. letters of formal notice, reasoned opinions, referrals to the European Court of Justice) it has initiated against Ireland under Article 10 of the EC Treaty concerning Ireland's failure to respond to Commission queries regarding its investigation into complaints since this Article entered into force?

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(13 March 2003)

The Honourable Member is referred to the annual report on the monitoring of the application of Community law for 2001, which the Commission drafted for Parliament(1).

For reasons of efficiency and effective use of resources, the Commission relies on Article 10 of the EC Treaty only as a secondary basis. It is used as the main legal basis only in the event of repeated lack of cooperation. That has not been the case with Ireland during the last three years.

(1) COM(2002) 324 final.