§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on public access to the January ECOFIN Council; what publicity was given to the meeting; if representatives from(a) political parties and (b) lobby groups were admitted; what audience vetting took place; and to what proportion of the conference public attendance was permitted. [53773]
§ Ms HewittThe first agenda item of the 19 January Council Meeting was the presentation and discussion of the Presidency and Commission work programmes for the UK Presidency. As my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer told my hon. Friend the Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire (Ms Lawrence) on 28 January296W 1998, Official Report, column 264, this took the form of an "open debate". This was the only agenda item to which public attendance was permitted.
Open debates are regularly held, but as part of the UK commitment to openness, took a higher profile during our Presidency. Eight open debates were held during the UK Presidency. More than three times as many members of the public attended the UK's open debates as under the previous Presidency, and the Presidency took the initiative actively to invite the public to watch the debates. The Council Secretariat sent invitations to the first two open debates (ECOFIN work programme, 19 January and GAC work programme 26 January) to 2,800 Brussels based organisations, including NGOs, consultants, law firms, educational organisations and thinktanks.
Some 200 people pre-registered for the ECOFIN debate, and the Secretariat estimate that this number, together with about 100 journalists, watched the debate through a video link to Justus Lipsius Press Conference room, which was full to capacity. Europe by Satellite also broadcast the debate. The Chancellor referred to the initiative in his post-Council press conference.