RESOLUTION B3-0201/92

on the European Economic Area

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the 24 October 1991 version of the draft

agreement on the creation of the European Economic Area

(EEA),

- having regard to the opinion of the Court of Justice of

the European Communities of 14 December 1991,

- having regard to its resolutions of 14 December 1989, 5

April 1990, 14 March 1991 and 14 June 1991 on the

European Economic Area,

1. Continues to support the creation of the EEA, which should

come into force at the same time as the completion of the

internal market on 1 January 1993;

2. Is concerned that the timetable under which the agreement

was to have come into force has been called into question

by the opinion of the Court of Justice and the further

negotiations that are therefore needed; holds the

Commission responsible for the subsequent delays, which

could have been avoided if the European Court of Justice

had been consulted in good time;

3. Calls on the Commission and the governments of the EFTA

countries to delay no further in reaching a new agreement

on the matter on which the Court of Justice delivered a

negative opinion and considers that it would be desirable

if the Court were to give its views on the solution to be

found;

4. Calls for a swift solution to be found to all the

unresolved problems so that the agreement can be

initialled without further delay and the text can be made

available in all the necessary languages;

5. Reminds the Commission that the assent which the European

Parliament is required to give to the agreement under

Article 238 of the EEC Treaty should not be regarded as a

procedural formality and that the draft will be subjected

to a thorough examination in compliance with the

provisions of the Treaties and the powers of the Community

institutions;

6. Requests that, in view of the gravity of the Court's

criticisms, which are of a constitutional nature, the

Commission should also re-submit the revised draft

agreement to the Court of Justice in order to obtain a new

opinion, pursuant to Article 228(1) of the EEC Treaty, and

to ensure the compatibility of this new draft with the

Treaty;

7. Points out to the Commission that it will not accept an

agreement which would weaken the Community bodies, and in

particular the European Parliament, in their legislative

function;

8. Requests the right to participate fully in all the stages

involved in preparing and implementing the EEA provisions;

requests, in particular, under Article 110(2) and (3) of

the draft treaty, that the documents forwarded by the

Commission to the Council and the EFTA countries are sent

at the same time to the European Parliament and that this

should also be done in respect of the ongoing information

and consultation procedure laid down in the case of the

various documents exchanged between the Commission and the

EFTA representatives in order to ensure that Parliament is

not presented with faits accomplis or does not consider

texts which have been superseded by agreements reached

between both parties;

9. Reaffirms its commitment to ensure that the EEA is

subjected to democratic scrutiny by the European

Parliament and the national parliaments of the EFTA

countries; recalls its resolution of 14 June 1991 referred

to above, in which it requests that the task of

facilitating democratic scrutiny be entrusted to a joint

parliamentary committee whose role is set out in the

resolution;

10. Calls on the Commission to deliver a clear opinion on

whether Article 106 and Protocol 36 of the draft treaty

are compatible with Parliament's demands that:

- the number of members of the joint parliamentary

committee be laid down in the Protocol, with account

being taken of the committee's ability to function and

its wide-ranging tasks (Article 2),

- the joint parliamentary committee should itself

determine its calendar of sittings in the light of

actual requirements (Article 4);

11. Considers that, given the probable accession of two or

more EFTA countries as full members of the Community, a

clause should be entered in the agreement, providing for

the revision of the agreement by 1 January 1996 at the

latest;

12. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the

Commission, the Council and the Committee of Members of

Parliament of the EFTA countries.