WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2580/98 by Bárbara DÜHRKOP DÜHRKOP to the Council. Right of European citizens to vote in local elections in Belgium
8. 4. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 96/117 Can the Commission confirm whether such a database exists? What environmental statistics are contained in this database? When, if at all, it is planned that Members of the European Parliament should have access to this database? Why were Members not immediately informed of and given access to this database? Answer given by Mr de Silguy on behalf of the Commission (6 October 1998) The Commission has no environment statistics data base which is accessible by policy-making departments of the Commission but not by the Parliament. In fact, environment data on Union, EFTA and candidate countries, once verified by Eurostat, is transferred to New Cronos, which is the general dissemination data base of Eurostat, equally accessible for Commission and Parliament staff. The Honourable Member may be referring to the internal Eurostat database ENVSTAT, which has been set up for Eurostatís internal production purposes only and contains a mix of validated and non-validated data. This database is accessible exclusively to Eurostat staff responsible for correcting and completing the data. Once the data is completed and released, it is transferred to the New Cronos data base as described above. (1999/C 96/165) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2580/98 by BÆrbara Dührkop Dührkop (PSE) to the Council (1 September 1998) Subject: Right of European citizens to vote in local elections in Belgium Following the decision of the Court of Justice of 9 July 1998 finding against Belgium for not having incorporated the implementing directive for Article 8b(1) of the Treaty, concerning the right of all European citizens, including those living in a Member State other than their Member State of origin, to vote in local elections, what measures does the Council intend to adopt to guarantee the right of all European citizens residing in Belgium to vote in the local elections to be held there in October 2000? Reply (19 October 1998) As the Honourable Member is aware, it is for the Court of Justice, pursuant to Article 164, to ensure that the law is observed in the interpretation and application of the Treaty, while it is for the Commission to ensure that Community law is duly applied, in keeping with Article 155. Pursuant to Article 171, it is also the Commissionís duty to act should a Member State fail to take the necessary measures to comply with a judgment of the Court of Justice. (1999/C 96/166) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2583/98 by JosØ Barros Moura (PSE) to the Commission (1 September 1998) Subject: Practical aspects of the free movement of persons Two citizens of different Member States (an Italian woman and a Portuguese man) decide to get married or live together. Accordingly, one of the two is obliged to move to the Member State of the other, giving up his or her job or taking leave on personal grounds or some similar arrangement. In most circumstances, the partner who moves will inevitably have difficulties in achieving integration, in terms of circumstances and opportunities, in the host country. Is it possible, given the particular and specific nature of this situation, to recognise at Community level the right of such citizens to retain their existing welfare entitlements (especially as regards medical assistance) in their Member State of origin, irrespective of which Member State they are living in at the moment when they need to make use of those entitlements?