You can find that version here. It includes the Protocols, Annexes, Declarations and usefully, the table of equivalences.
That publication follows the publication on the Council web site we drew your attention to here back in April.
Back in June 2007 we noted the hearing that was held by the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament recently held an interesting hearing on "The role of the national judge in the judicial system of the European Union" and announced that Diana Wallis MEP would draft an own-initiative report on the subject.
Ms Wallis has done that now and you can find the draft report and its annex here.
The draft report is well worth reading. It deals with how national courts can better enforce and apply EU law. Topics covered are not just the preliminary reference procedure but also training for judges, access to EU law (no mention of this blog, alas) and better drafting of EU law itself.
Particularly interesting is the extensive annex which is a distillation of responses sent by 2300 national judges.
The purpose of the document which is in fact a Communication to the European Parliament and the Court is to review the current agencies, how they are structured and how they work. It seeks to lay the ground work for a common framework for regulatory agencies but the Commission announces that it will withdraw its proposal for an interinstitutional agreement on the operating framework for regulatory agencies (COM (2005) 59).
It concentrates on regulatory agencies of which there are now 29. A regulatory agency is a body governed by EU law, distinct from the EU Institutions (Council, Parliament, Commission, etc.) with its own legal personality. It is set up by a directive or regulation in order to accomplish a very specific technical, scientific or managerial task. For a list of them, see here. The three CFSP agencies are listedhere. The Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters agencies are listed here.
According to the Communication, regulatory agencies employ an incredible 3800 staff.
Executive agencies, on the other hand, are not covered by this Communication. They areorganizations entrusted with certain tasks relating to the management of one or more Community programs, are set up for a fixed period and must located in Brussels or Luxembourg. They are established in accordance with Council Regulation 58/2003. For a list, see here.
There have been new declarations by Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia. See also the notice from the Council about them.
Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia now accept the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice to give preliminary rulings on the validity and interpretation of framework decisions and decisions, on the interpretation of conventions established under Title VI and on the validity and interpretation of the measures implementing them. Moreover, they have declared that any of their national courts or tribunals may refer questions (under Article 35 § 3 (b)).
Slovenia has accepted that its courts of last resort are obliged to refer preliminary questions to the Court of Justice (under art. 35 §1).
Hungary, for its part, has withdrawn its previous declaration in which it accept the jurisdiction for its courts of last resort only (under art. 35 §3(a)).
For ease of reference (and because nobody else seems to have taken the trouble), the current situation for each member State that has accepted jurisdiction is as follows:
It looks like we were being unfair.
The Commission has recently published a report, COM(2008) 141 final, with a list of 11 pieces of legislation to be amended in order to reduce the administrative burden imposed on industry and commerce in the EU.
Such a list was promised in an earlier report, COM(2008) 35 entitled "Reducing administrative burdens in the European Union 2007 progress report and 2008 outlook".
There's a special web page devoted to it here.
The report is well worth looking at because it contains such of a wealth of information, despite some of the propaganda-speak. Look at this annex on the revenues of the EC budget for example. That's good.
There's still some of this kind of fluff, however:
"The progress made in recent years with the strategy to create a modern and effective regulatory culture throughout Europe was consolidated in 2007. The Commission used the experience gained from the measures taken to improve legislation in order to refine its approach further and satisfy the demands of European citizens and economic operators for a simple and accessible regulatory framework."But if you can grin and bear it, there is some hard information lurking there.
You can find a brief resume in the Court's press release here.
Judge Kasel was sworn in on January 14th, 2008 and appointment is for the remainder of Mr. Schintgen's term, that is until October 6th, 2009.
Judge Kasel will be a member of the First and Fifth Chambers according to this notice and the list of judges for the Grand Chamber has been amended according to the one here.
Congratulations !
Back in July 2006 we noted how the Commission intended to send all proposals to national parliaments. And then there are the even greater changes to be made by the Lisbon-Reform Treaty we noted here.
But there's one organization that already works and that is the Conference of Community and European Affairs Committees of Parliaments of the European Union, known as COSAC. It was established in November 1989. It drew up some non-binding guidelines in 2003 known as the "Copenhagen Parliamentary Guidelines" to set out how coöperation should work.
The new Rules of Procedure of COSAC - drawn up in May 2003 - have just been published ! Never too late to be transparent.
‘4. When a decision is to be adopted by the Council by a qualified majority, a member of the Council may request verification that the Member States constituting the qualified majority represent at least 62 % of the total population of the Union. If that condition is shown not to have been met, the decision in question shall not be adopted.’The Council first amended its Rules of Procedure by a Decision of October 11th, 2004 setting out the population figures for each member State. It also set out the figure that represents the 62% threshold.
Just as it did for last year, the Council has amended those rules of procedure to adjust the population figures for 2008. The new Decision dated December 20th 2007 is available here. The 62% threshold figure has increased from 286,020,900 to 306,964,400.
Mr. Jean-Jacques Kasel, of Luxembourg, has been appointed to replace Judge Schintgen following his resignation. Mr Kasel is appointed to sit until October 6th 2009, that is until Judge Schintgen's term of office was to expire. The decision appointing Mr Kasel has been published here.
Congratulations to Mr Kasel ! And we'll let you know when he is sworn in.
