HC Deb 05 June 1997 vol 295 cc214-5W
Mr. Radice

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many times each European Union member state was prosecuted in the European Court of Justice under the terms of article 169 of the treaty of Rome in 1995 and 1996. [1885]

Mr. Doug Henderson

The enforcement of Community law—commenced under Article 169 of the EC Treaty—has a number of stages which can take more than one year to complete. The latest figures are contained in the Commission's Thirteenth Annual Report on Monitoring the Application of Community Law (1995) which is in the Libraries of the House. The table below from the report, details established infringements by stage of proceeding and Member State for 1991–1995, giving an indicative overall picture. The report for 1996 will be published soon. It will be deposited in the Libraries of the House when it becomes available.

Table 2.1: Established infringements—Classified by stage of proceedings and Member State
Article 169 letters
Member State 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
B 71 110 98 77 80
DK 52 46 66 57 42
D 60 97 120 90 92
EL 88 112 125 96 113
E 79 129 107 86 81
F 54 113 105 90 97
IRL 59 87 91 70 67
I 115 138 108 102 114
L 64 97 91 64 71
NL 62 75 75 73 59
A — — — — 4

Table 2.1: Established infringements—Classified by stage of proceedings and Member State
Article 169 letters
Member State 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
P 86 116 125 96 115
FIN — — — — 2
S — — — — 2
UK 63 97 98 73 77
Total 853 1,217 1,209 974 1,016
Reasoned opinions
Member State 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
B 46 22 26 41 19
DK 3 4 3 14 1
D 13 18 35 66 25
EL 48 30 41 85 26
E 30 39 28 53 15
F 15 10 39 49 17
IRL 27 13 25 47 3
I 76 40 49 60 36
L 35 21 29 36 9
NL 23 16 22 20 4
A — — — — 0
P 84 22 40 54 22
FIN — — — — 0
S — — — — 0
UK 11 13 15 21 15
Total 411 248 352 546 192
Referrals to Court
Member State 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
B 8 6 7 10 6
DK 1 0 0 0 0
D 1 5 4 5 10
EL 9 4 4 17 12
E 2 5 5 9 6
F 4 1 2 8 6
IRL 3 9 0 12 6
I 24 11 6 12 17
L 4 14 11 6 3
NL 7 5 5 4 0
A — — — — 0
P 2 1 0 5 4
FIN — — — — 0
UK 0 3 0 1 2
Total 65 64 44 89 72