§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the financial assistance given to Turkey by his Department in each of the last three years, stating(a) the amount of funding, (b) the projects for which the funding was allocated and (c) what supervision his Department conducted on the development of these projects. [74638]
§ Ms QuinThe notes in the EC Budget have no legal status and are indicative only. Under Article 205, the Commission retains the obligation to implement the budget as adopted on its own authority. The notes are proposed by the Commission and amended by either arm of the budgetary authority (Council or European Parliament). For non-compulsory expenditure, as in the case of this budget line, the Parliament has the final say.
The Government believe that information spending from the Community budgets should not be used for propaganda, but should contribute to increased transparency and understanding of the EU, its activities, its structure and its functions, by the citizen. This is a view shared by the Commission.