This is what the Commission has done today. The Court judgment is important because, on the one hand, the Court considers that the cooperation between Member States in the social field referred to in the first paragraph of Article 118 of the Treaty extends to migration policies in relation to non-member countries and, on the other hand, it considers that the powers to arrange consultations granted to the Commission under the second parag
raph of Article 118 enable it adopt rules of a binding nature. The Court ruled, however,that the Commission had exceeded its powers in two respects: first, by arranging consultations
...[+++]between Member States to promote cultural integration, which, as such, falls outside the scope of the first paragraph of Article 118 and, secondly, by providing that the objective of the consultation is to ensure that national draft measures and agreements are in conformity with Community policies and actions.
La Cour avait cependant jugé que la Commission avait outrepassé ses compétences sur deux points : premièrement, en organisant la collaboration entre Etats membres pour promouvoir l'intégration culturelle, qui, comme telle, tombe en dehors du champ d'application de l'article 118, alinéa premier; deuxièmement, en assignant à la concertation l'objectif d'assurer la conformité des projets de mesures nationales et d'accords aux politiques et actions communautaires.