Brussels, 02/02/2000 (Agence Europe) - The early intervention mechanism established in late 1998 by the Fifteen to abolish obstacles to the free movement of goods within EU territory seems to have reached cruising speed. Further to the setting up of roadblocks in France, in reaction to the reduction of working time, the European Commission wrote to the French authorities on Monday to request information on the nature of the obstacles and the measures they intended to take to restore the free movement of goods. France responded within the prescribed time limit, providing all information required on the location and duration of the roadblocks, the information available from regional road traffic centres and French embassies, the instructions issued to the police and gendarmerie to prevent roadblocks or limit the consequences on free movement and permit, where appropriate, the payment of compensation.
"The Commission is circulating this information to all other Member States. In view of the fact that on the basis of information currently available to the Commission, no roadblocks are currently in place at frontiers and most roadblocks on internal routes have been lifted, the Commission considers that it is not necessary at this stage to issue a formal request to France to ensure the free movement of goods and persons", announced a European Commission spokesman on Wednesday. The next step would have been publication in the Official Journal of a notice giving the authorities concerned a deadline for "taking all necessary and proportionate measures", with five days to respond (see Council Regulation 2679/98 on the early intervention mechanism for restoring free movement of goods).