In this case, there has been a violation of Community law.

Let us begin with the gross violation of Community law.

They argued that the project would be in violation of Community law regarding the protection of groundwater.

Secondly, we consider that violations of Community law appear to be at issue, in particular environmental law and public procurement rules.

This is neither - as was falsely stated - a full-scale embargo nor a violation of Community law.

For its part, the Commission will focus renewed attention on violations of Community law and on the way in which infringements are dealt with.

As far as I understand it, the preferential import from these territories constitutes a violation of Community law.

In the Irish Box or other areas, we are talking about a privilege granted to several States in violation of Community law.

As I said earlier, on 6 September 2004 the administrative and fiscal court of Coimbra concluded that there had been no violation of Community law.

Unfortunately, the Council often ignores the communications from the Committee on Petitions about serious violations of Community law by Member State authorities.

New Member States have to be subject to infringement proceedings for violations of Community law in the same way as the old Member States.

These were the basic points of the infringement procedures, which we had to launch because this is a violation of Community law, and the Commission is Guardian of the Treaties.

We are also discussing a gross violation of Community law by the Commission and the GATT and the issue of the native peoples of Canada and the United States.

The report gives a quite correct definition of the parameters that are useful for defining the crime: repeated violations of Community law, the seriousness of the damage and, in some cases, putting profits before any other consideration.

It is the responsibility of all the European institutions to do everything in their power so that citizens are informed of all their means of redress if there are violations of Community law or bad administration by European institutions.

The European Commission, which has to ensure that Community law is applied, has to maintain special relations with citizens who are witnesses to, or the actual or alleged victims of, violations of Community law and who lodge complaints with its services.

To be specific, it accepts the principle of safeguarding the law formulated in Article 10 of the EC Treaty; in other words, the obligation of the Member States to ensure that violations of Community law attract effective criminal sanctions.

Since 1976 Israel has, however, determined the origin of its products without making any distinction between those from its territory and those from the territories occupied in constant and repeated violation of Community law, international law and the Geneva Convention.

The reason, therefore, why we are calling for a debate and resolution is exactly the opposite of what my fellow Members maintain: since there is a violation of Community law and since we must apparently legislate less, we had better concern ourselves with applying this law.

What I believe is that the Commission's decision, in the case of the Helms-Burton Act, to desist - in violation of Community law, without consulting the Community's parliamentary institution - has been an act of defeatism and one which will weaken its negotiating capacity in the international field.

For example, despite the fact that the Maliakos Gulf and the wetlands of the Sperkhios river have been designated as conservation areas under the Natura 2000 network, there are proposals to bridge the Maliakos Gulf, in violation of Community law, despite the fact that an alternative solution could be found.

It is in fact about the huge issue which is troubling the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament with contradictory positions and which has to do with investigating potential legal bases for the jurisdiction of the European Union to make provision for criminal sanctions for certain serious violations of Community law.

Madam President, in view of the shortcomings identified in the application of Community environmental legislation within the Member States - more than one-fifth of violations of Community law in 1995 related to the environment - the Commission has forwarded this communication on improving the implementation of the relevant European Union legislation.