§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the references in official documents of the European Union relating to future conditions for official registration of political parties and their representation in, or candidatures for the European Parliament, including eligibility for funds or assistance in kind; and when proposals will be subject to parliamentary scrutiny in the United Kingdom. [139946]
§ Mr. VazThe Progress Report on the IGC (CONFER 4790/00 published on 3 November 2000) contains a proposed amendment to Article 191 of the EC Treaty for a legal base to allow the establishment of a statute to regulate European political parties, which were first recognised by the Maastricht Treaty.
We support the principle of a statute to ensure the transparency of the funding of European political parties, and we hope that a suitable enabling clause can be agreed at the IGC. The IGC Progress Report is available in the Library. A draft statute would be deposited in Parliament for scrutiny in the normal way.