Brussels, 25/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - On 24 July, the European Commission decided to send a reasoned opinion (second warning letter) to Luxembourg for failing to provide it with environmental information.
The Commission must have access to official information sources in order to ensure respect of Community law. This implies Member State cooperation, mainly in order to clarify facts, state official positions and present data and documents. Cooperation is stipulated in the EC Treaty.
In order to respond properly to a request for information from the European Parliament about a power-line project in de Wecker, which was the subject of a petition), the Commission wrote to the Luxembourg authorities in 1998, 1999 and 2000. It called for a copy of an environmental study concerning the location of the power-line project. As no such information was forthcoming, it sent, on 10 April 2001, a Letter of Formal Notice to Luxembourg, which has still not been answered. The decision taken on Tuesday reflects the concerns of the Commission, which considers Luxembourg is not giving "the degree of cooperation usually expected of Member States".