Brussels, 23/06/2000 (Agence Europe) - Harmut Nassauer and Markus Ferber, CDU and CSU MEPs, reproached in a press release the German government of having proposed "to discussed the issue of the delimitation of competence within the European Union only in the framework of new intergovernmental conference towards 2004". According to them, such a definition of competence at different levels - EU, Member States, regions - is "urgently" necessary, while the holding of a new IGC in 2004, in the "hot phase" of the next enlargement, would be problematic.
Mr. Nassauer and Mr. Ferber feel that the Advocate General's conclusions in the case of the 1998 Community Directive ban advertising and sponsoring in favour of tobacco products, Directive that was attacked by Germany (see EUROPE of 16 June, pages 11 and 12), demonstrates the urgency of such a catalogue of competence. The two MEPs assert that without a clear definition, the European Commission cannot give itself powers that are not foreseen by the Treaty.