§ Sir Teddy TaylorTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if the EU Commission will make public its reactions to the convergence plans submitted by member states of the EU; [22552]
(2) how many member states have now submitted their convergence plans to the EU Commission; when the United Kingdom submitted such a plan; and if he will publish it; [22551]
(3) what consideration has been given to national convergence programmes by the Monetary Committee of the EU and by the ECOFIN council. [22553]
§ Mr. Heathcoat-AmoryThe ECOFIN council has generally assessed each member state's initial convergence programme, on the basis of a report from the Commission and the Monetary Committee. The practice has varied for updated programmes, depending on the scale of any changes to the plans. Where there is no specific discussion, subsequent convergence programmes will be one of the sources of information used by the Commission in preparing reports for the council's regular multilateral surveillance discussions.
The Commission does not publish its assessment of national convergence programmes but when ECOFIN considers a convergence programme, it publishes the conclusions of its discussion in the form of a press notice.
All member states—apart from Luxembourg and the three new members, Austria, Finland and Sweden—have adopted convergence programmes. Revised and updated programmes have also been adopted, where appropriate, in the light of economic developments.
The UK produced an updated programme in March this year, based on the 1995–96 "Financial Statement and Budget Report". A copy of this and previous convergence programmes can be found in the House of Commons Library.