Prodi’s pledge to crack down on law-breakers faces first test

Date: 09/12/1999

By Peter Chapman

EUROPEAN Commission President Romano Prodi's promise to clamp down on member states which breach EU rules faces its first real test next week.

Political aides to the 20 Commissioners will decide next Tuesday (14 December) whether to recommend taking action in a mammoth 1,837 cases of possible infringements of EU rules and regulations by Union governments.

The meeting will focus on the many cases which are just one stage away from being referred to the European Court of First Instance. If the 'infringement chefs', as these top advisors are known, call for legal action, their political masters will debate only the most difficult cases at their meeting the following day, rubber-stamping the rest.

Officials predict the institution may decide to take action on up to a quarter of the cases on the list, with others either dropped or decisions delayed pending further legal scrutiny.

The discredited Santer Commission was pilloried for repeatedly delaying or rejecting legal action in politically-sensitive cases despite calls from officials for infringement proceedings to be launched.

Now all eyes are on Prodi's team to see if it will live up to its pledge to withstand pressure from member states and special interest groups urging the institution to abandon controversial cases. "If it gets it wrong, it will appear weak right from the start," admitted one Commission insider.

Industry is also warning that the outcome of next week's meeting is crucial for the new Commissioners' credibility. "If they do not get their act together on infringements and get a proper efficient system going then, there will be severe repercussions for industry," said Alistair Tempest, director of European direct marketing lobby group FEDMA. "The Commission has never managed to do it before and it is a crying shame."

Tempest acknowledged, however, that the sheer volume of cases which Commission officials must digest was partly responsible for the delays in taking decisions. "Something needs to be done to deal with the bottleneck. If not we will be sat here in a decade's time with 180,000 cases and not 1,800," he said.

Top officials say the current batch of cases, spanning alleged breaches of EU legislation on everything from the single market to environmental standards, contains few which are hugely sensitive politically. However, officials admit that one long-running dispute which has captured the headlines - France's Loi Evin, which restricts alcohol advertising at televised sports events - will not be decided next week. "Loi Evin will be dealt with in the New Year," said one, adding that the Commission's services were still examining the issue.

But sources predict other difficult cases will be decided, with a raft of member states facing action for failing to implement rules on data protection and postal liberalisation correctly.

European Commission President Romano Prodi's promise to clamp down on Member States which breach EU rules faces its first real test, 14.11.99, when political aides to the 20 Commissioners will decide whether to recommend taking action in a mammoth 1,837 cases of possible infringement of EU rules and regulations by Union governments.