WRITTEN QUESTION E-2468/99 by Daniela Raschhofer (NI) to the Commission. Transposition of Directive 91/174/EEC.
8. 8. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 225 E/139 Other well-known members of the Italian coalition government, such as the Secretary of the Democratic Left, Walter Veltroni, also took part in what was a political event forming part of an election campaign during which Mr Prodi made statements supporting the Olive Tree candidate, Mr Parisi. Does the Commission not believe that the participation of its members (and particularly its President, 1. Mr Prodi) in events which are clearly part of an election campaign, as in the above case, is inappropriate? 2. Does it not consider this conduct to be in breach of the letter and the spirit of Article 213(2) of the Amsterdam Treaty, which stipulates that áthe Members of the Commission shall, in the general interest of the Community, be completely independent in the performance of their dutiesí? Does Mr Prodi plan to participate in future election meetings of this kind in Italy, maybe of the other 3. two coalitions? Joint answer to Written Questions E-2459/99, E-2600/99 and E-2628/99 given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission (7 February 2000) As the Commission has had frequent occasion to recall in reply to written and oral questions by Members of Parliament (1), the Members of the Commission are politicians carrying out a political function, who, while honouring the obligations imposed by this function, remain free to express their personal opinions quite independently and on their own responsibility. (1) The Honourable Members are referred in particular to the answer by Mr Rey to Oral Question No 10/68 by Mr Habib-Deloncle, and Commission answers to Written Questions No 44/83 by Mr Gendebien ü OJ C 197, 25. 7. 1983, No 1682/85 by Mr Vandemeulebroucke ü OJ C 55, 10. 3. 1986, E-1404/97 by Mr Pasty ü OJ C 391, 23. 12. 1997 and E-2617/98 by Mr Wibe ü OJ C 96, 8. 4. 1999. (2000/C 225 E/151) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2468/99 by Daniela Raschhofer (NI) to the Commission (16 December 1999) Subject: Transposition of Directive 91/174/EEC In 1997, the Austrian commercial beekeepersí association lodged a complaint with the Commission regarding failure to transpose Directive 91/174/EEC (1). ü Has the Commission instituted inquiries in this connection? ü Has Austria given an opinion on the matter? ü Has the Commission completed its inquiries? ü What is the outcome of the inquiries? (1) OJ L 85, 5. 4. 1991, p. 37. Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission (9 February 2000) The Commission has in fact received a complaint from the sterreichischer Imkerbund denouncing the fact that the regional authorities of Lower Austria, Carinthia and Styria have banned the keeping of Buckfast bees and challenging the compatibility of these measures with Council Directive 91/174/EEC of 25 March 1991 laying down zootechnical and pedigree requirements for the marketing of pure-bred animals and amending Directive 77/504/EEC and 90/245/EEC. C 225 E/140 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 8. 8. 2000 As regards this Directive, the Commission can confirm that an infringement procedure pursuant to Article 226 (ex Article 169) of the EC Treaty was mounted against Austria for failure to communicate transposition measures. This procedure has since been closed, after notification of the measures in question. However, it should be noted that the Court of Justice, in Case C-67/97 on the keeping of a non-indigenous species of bee on the island of Læsł (DK), found that ü since no implementing measure had been adopted in the bee sector ü Directive 91/174/EC was not applicable and so the existing national law remained applicable, with due regard to Articles 28 and 30 (ex Articles 30 and 36) of the EC Treaty. In this judgment the Court ruled that a legislative measure prohibiting the keeping on an island such as Læsł of any species of bee other than the subspecies Apis mellifera mellifera must be regarded as justified, under Article 30 of the EC Treaty (ex Article 36), with a view to protecting the health and life of animals. The Commission considers that this case law might, under certain conditions, also apply to other territories larger than the island of Læsł. An examination is now under way to determine whether the requirements for restricting the keeping of certain species of bees in the Austrian regions concerned have been met. (2000/C 225 E/152) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2469/99 by Daniela Raschhofer (NI) to the Commission (16 December 1999) Subject: Reply to Question E-1056/99 In its answer to Written Question E-1056/99 (1) of 20 April 1999, the Commission stated that it had asked the Austrian authorities for information on the type of insurance services, the items covered and existing insurance contracts. ü Has the Commission received this information? ü Do Council Directive 92/50/EEC (2) relating to the coordination of procedures for the award of public service contracts and ü Council Directive 93/37/EEC (3) concerning the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts apply here? ü What is the outcome with regard to my Written Question of 20 April 1999? (1) OJ C 348, 3. 12. 1999. (2) OJ L 209, 24. 7. 1992, p. 1. (3) OJ L 199, 9. 8. 1993, p. 54. Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission (20 January 2000) The insurance services addressed by the Honourable Member concern áhouse insuranceí for buildings in the property of the municipality, that are concluded by the town of Vienna with insurance agencies for the property in possession of the town of Vienna. As already announced in the Commissionís answer to the question of the Honourable Member E-1056/ 99 (1), the Austrian authorities were requested to provide further information concerning the nature of the contract, the threshold of the contract and the duration of the contract. On the basis of the information provided, the Commission found that the town of Vienna concluded 1850 house insurance contracts with a duration of 10 years. All but 100 contracts will expire in the year 2001. The insurances concluded by the town of Vienna can be qualified as services in the meaning of Annexe I A Category 6 (financial services) of Council Directive 92/50/EEC of 18 June 1992 relating to the coordination of procedures for the award of public service contracts. The obligation to publish ü if the threshold is met ü exists only for those contracts signed after the accession of Austria to the Community