§ Mr. Rhodri MorganTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment she has made of the impact of European Commission proposals to continue access to the Cohesion Fund, for those countries currently with such access, which join the single currency system. [27311]
§ Mrs. Roche[holding answer 3 February 1998]: The Government believe that, since one of the main reasons for establishing the Cohesion Fund was to help poorer Member States to achieve economic convergence, there is a strong case for ending access to the Fund for those which have met the macroeconomic criteria for joining the single currency. The Government will argue for the Cohesion Fund to be subject to the same overall budget stringency as the Structural Funds.