§ Mr. Heathcoat-AmoryTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the monitoring by his Department of the application of European Community guidelines on impartiality in EU funding of information campaigns. [114468]
§ Mr. MacShaneI have been asked to reply.
The European Commission's proposed Information and Communication Strategy for the EU, adopted on 2 July 2002, highlights the importance of neutral, factual information. The Copenhagen European Council has also stressed that information provided for the public on EU activities should be objective.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office keeps itself fully aware of the nature of the European Commission's communications activities via regular contact with the European Commission's Representation to the UK.