§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions he has had with representatives of non-governmental organisations about the proposal in the Draft European Constitution to merge the roles of High Representative and External Affairs Commissioner of the European Union. [140875]
Mr. Gareth ThomasI met with the heads of CONCORD, a Brussels-based platform for development NGOs, ActionAid and Eurostep during my visit to Brussels in early September. We discussed the outcome of the Convention debate on development and humanitarian assistance and agreed important progress had been made in these areas so far. We also agreed our main aim for the Inter-governmental Conference, which started in early October, would be to maintain these gains. I also discussed the issue of merging the role of EU's High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the External Affairs Commissioner with non-governmental organisations.