Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-16-Speech-5-077"
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"en.20000616.5.5-077"2
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"Mr President, the report on monitoring the application of Community law that has today been put before you, is the sixteenth report of its kind. In this way, the demand made by Parliament in its resolution of 9 February 1983, has been fulfilled. In this report, the Commission makes its annual assessment of the monitoring of the application of Community law, which is one of its essential tasks.
In this respect, the Commission’s recent initiatives in the sphere of information for the citizen, such as ‘Europe direct’ also guarantee enhanced transparency. The services of the Commission devote special attention to compliance with confidentiality requirements in their dealings with complainants. Confidentiality with respect to the complainant’s identity is always the guiding principle, unless they expressly ask for their name to be disclosed.
Once again, I can assure you that the Commission has no intention whatsoever of attaching less importance to the treatment of the complaints submitted to the Commission. I want to stress this because certain Members of the House here today have asked me to address this point. It is quite clear from the sixteenth report that these complaints are indispensable to the services of the Commission in their investigations into breaches of Community law. The Commission’s aims are two-fold here.
Firstly, it wants to cut down the amount of time taken to examine the dossiers, which is still too long in some cases. Secondly, it wants to make national jurisprudence more accessible to European citizens, since this is the only form of jurisprudence that can redress the damage sustained by the injured party.
This highlights the significance of the measures recently communicated by the Commission to Parliament as part of the overview of the demands relating to the establishment of an area of freedom, security and justice. The Commission is endeavouring to nip breaches of Community law in the bud and is therefore constantly updating its procedures pertaining to the monitoring of the application of Community law.
Various types of measure could help to achieve this goal. First and foremost, we need to improve the procedure in respect of the prejudicial issue laid down pursuant to Article 234 of the EC Treaty. The Commission has already submitted concrete proposals in this connection, as part of its contribution to the Intergovernmental Conference. By amending Article 234 of the aforementioned Treaty, the intention is to achieve the following.
Firstly, to make the national judges accountable for their actions when they are called upon to enforce Community law. Secondly, to request national courts that do not deliver the final decision to provide reasoned grounds as to why they doubt the interpretation of Community law. Thirdly, to compel each and every national court to involve the Court of Justice when they are minded not to apply a piece of Community legislation on account of its putative invalidity.
The Commission is also aiming for more effective implementation of Community law in the Member States by making the monitoring of the transposition measures pertaining to the Community directives more systematic.
Furthermore, when the channels of communication between the services of the Commission and the national authorities, are improved they will be better placed to trace breaches of Community law at as early a stage as possible and to call a halt to them.
Two final comments. As far as the possibility of taking account of the application of the second and third pillars in the report is concerned, I would reiterate that we have no instrument at our disposal, within the framework of these pillars, that bears comparison with the infringement procedures laid down in Article 226 of the EC Treaty. Breaches of Community law pertaining to international agreements fall within the scope of the annual report.
Lastly, the Commission is delighted at the support it is receiving from Parliament in the exercise of this complex task, i.e. monitoring the application of Community law. Whilst having due regard for the Treaties, the Commission will reflect on any improvements that need to be made, as part of an ongoing process of analysis and improvement in respect of the infringement procedures.
The Commission constantly endeavours to improve the speed and efficiency, not to mention the transparency, of its working methods in this sphere. The report compiled by Mrs Grossetête on behalf of the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market, for which I would like to offer my sincere thanks, contains numerous findings in this respect and makes various recommendations.
Permit me to highlight the salient points. Firstly, on behalf of the Commission, I would like to say how much I appreciate the fact that the recently introduced reforms in connection with the treatment of complaints submitted by citizens were so well-received by Parliament. In addition, the Commission noted, to its satisfaction, that emphatic reference is made in this report to the fact that its services are committed to improving training in Community law among members of the legal profession in the Member States.
I would point out that the Commission is called upon in the report to redouble its efforts in respect of the transparency of investigations into infringement cases. I can assure you that these efforts will be pursued and intensified wherever possible, which will mean taking account of the Treaty provisions and, in some cases, the restrictions deriving from them, especially with regard to confidentiality.
Furthermore, as I see it, the steadily increasing number of press reports published by the Commission (there were 334 in 1998) and the fact that each press report relates to more than one issue, would indicate that the Commission is committed to a form of transparency that goes much further than a complainant’s natural, fundamental desire for information on the further treatment of his or her complaint. It has now become quite routine for a press report to be published when the Commission decides to send a reasoned opinion to a Member State or to involve the Court of Justice."@en1
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