WRITTEN QUESTION No. 4077/98 by Caroline JACKSON Better lawmaking: a shared responsibility
C 325/52 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 12. 11. 1999 Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (24 March 1999) The Commission is aware of the Ombudsman’s decision in this matter. The Ombudsman’s critical remarks solely concern the extent to which the Commission had given adequate reasons for not accepting a legal argument put forward by the complainants (which essentially related to whether Spain could rely on a development consent process set out in Directive 92/43/EEC (1) of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild flora and fauna as against an earlier process set out in Directive 79/409/EEC (2) of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds). However, the Commission considers that the information it provided was sufficient to address this legal argument, since it could be logically deduced from this information why the legal argument was not accepted. In particular, the Commission made quite clear the date from which it considered Directive 92/43/EEC to be applicable, and the facts made it clear that the Itoiz project would be carried out after that date. In any case, the Ombudsman did not question the correctness of the Commission’s legal stance. Given this and given the fact that the Itoiz project has since been constructed, the Commission does not see any purpose in prolonging commentary on a Commission decision dating from 1994. The original complainant in this case has been fully informed of Commission’s views on this issue. (1) OJ L 206, 22. 7. 1992. (2) OJ L 103, 25. 4. 1979. (1999/C 325/064) WRITTEN QUESTION E-4077/98 by Caroline Jackson (PPE) to the Commission (14 January 1999) Subject: Better lawmaking: a shared responsibility On 2 December the Commission announced that it is ‘planning to withdraw around 90 proposals which are no longer relevant for various reasons, including subsidiarity’. Can the Commission now supply the questioner with a list of the proposals that it is planning to withdraw; can it state when this list will become official, and, when it does, will it undertake to publish the list in the Official Journal? Answer given by Mr Santer on behalf of the Commission (10 February 1999) The list to which the Honourable Member refers was sent to Parliament and the Council on 17 December 1998 (1). The relevant decision will shortly be published in the Official Journal. (1) SEC(98) 2143. (1999/C 325/065) WRITTEN QUESTION E-4080/98 by Pedro Marset Campos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission Subject: Abandoned villages in Aragon (Spain) (14 January 1999) Aragon is the Spanish Autonomous Community most heavily affected by depopulation: some 400 villages, hamlets and farms, above all in the Huesca Pyrenees and the Teruel mountain regions, a fact which clearly reflects the regional planning policies implemented hitherto