§ Sir Richard BodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) if he will deposit in the Library documentation relating to the seminars provided by the European Commission to EU consumer organisations in November and December on training in important aspects of the transition to the euro, from the consumer's viewpoint; [87672]
- (2) if he will make a statement on the (a) nature and (b) cost of the assistance supplied by the European Commission to the TUC to encourage public debate on EMU; [87686]
- (3) if he will make a statement on the nature of the project financed by the European Commission relating to vulnerable sectors of the population and preparation for the advent of the euro. [87659]
§ Ms HewittI have been asked to reply.
424WThese projects appear to be financed by the European Commission from the European Union Budget, line B3–306, Information Programme for European Citizens (Prince).
The Prince programme exists to stimulate public debate on the EMU. I understand that the Commission gave the European Trades Union Congress (ETUC) 200,000 euro under the Prince programme in 1997. ETUC distributed this money to the national trades union organisations. The money received by the TUC was used to help organise seven conferences aimed at stimulating public debate on the EMU.
The seminars for consumer organisations were also organised under the Prince programme.