§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 23 January 2001,Official Report, columns 564–65W, concerning the consultative conferences and other activities required of European presidencies during 2001 in Annexe IV of the provisional treaty of Nice, if he will list (a) the procedures and criteria by which Her Majesty's Government will select representatives of statutory and non-statutory bodies, (b) the funds to be used for organising and running these conferences and (c) to whom such representatives will report, and how they will consult. [148396]
§ Mr. VazThe Nice treaty agreed that the consultative process should be wide and involve members of civil society. No details have yet been worked out. The Swedish presidency has been mandated to report to the Gothenburg European Council in June. We expect this report to address possible mechanisms and scope for this process.