Deputies vote for Lloyd’s court battle

Date: 30/06/05

The European Commission could face a court battle with the European Parliament over the Lloyd's Names affair if it does not respond to an MEPs' resolution within two months.

MEPs in the petitions committee last week (22 June) backed a resolution deeming insufficient the European Commission's response to its question of whether the UK's supervision of the Lloyd's market was in breach of EU law in 1978-97.

At the meeting, Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said the Commission could not respond to the Parliament's question because "the pre-litigation and litigation proceedings that would have established the answer were not completed".

"The proceedings were closed a long time ago, and this clearly implies that the Commission won't give an answer, not that it can't," said a committee spokesman.

"Either the Commission is the guardian of the EU treaty, in which case it must ensure it is properly applied, or it is not the guardian of the treaty," he added.

Many MEPs expressed anger that McCreevy had failed to resolve the matter.

"It is quite simple really," said UK Liberal MEP Diana Wallis. "A directive appears not to have been fully and properly implemented over a long period of years.

"Eventually the member state comes into compliance 20 years after the event. That just cannot be good enough for Parliament or for Europe," said Wallis.

If the Commission does not provide an answer by 22 August, the legal affairs committee must decide whether to ask Josep Borrell, the Parliament's president, to bring the executive before the European Court of Justice.

Borrell's predecessor, Pat Cox, declined to launch court action last year, but the Parliament's case is now stronger.

At that time the matter was based on an oral question from one MEP - UK Conservative Roy Perry - rather than a whole committee, and it was not bound by a resolution.

Thousands of Lloyd's underwriters - known as Names - were financially ruined by asbestos claims, which they say would not have happened had Lloyd's been accountable to EU law.

Article reports that MEPs in the European Parliament's Petitions Committee on 22 June 2005 backed a resolution deeming insufficient the European Commission's response to its question of whether the UK's supervision of the Lloyd's market was in breach of EU law in 1978-97. Thousands of Lloyd's underwriters - known as Names - were financially ruined by asbestos claims, which they say would not have happened had Lloyd's been accountable to EU law. Author says that the European Commission could face a court battle with the European Parliament if it did not respond to the MEPs' resolution within two months.

• Primary Source