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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Answer

Mr. Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list projects for which the Department has provided joint funding with the European Commission and other institutions of the European Union during the past five financial years; and what funding is planned for such projects in this financial year. [221375] Mr. MacShane: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has worked together with various European institutions on a number of projects in the last five years. In October 2003, the FCO and European Commission jointly organised the "Europe United" football tournament as part of the plans to celebrate EU enlargement. In early 2004 the FCO produced with Commission support booklets explaining the benefits of EU enlargement that were sent to the nine English regions and the devolved administrations. On 24 April 2004, there was `Europe Day--Meet the Neighbours'-- a jointly organised FCO-Commission project which celebrated EU enlargement. The European Parliament funded jointly with the FCO a number of Wilton Park conferences: The European Union's Strategic Priorities (14-16 September 2000); Reforming the Governance of the European Union: Towards an ever closer EU? (22-24 October 2001); How Can Parliamentarians Best Re-Engage the Public? (9-12 June 2003); The Future of Europe: What kind of Institutional and Security arrangements do we want (September 2002). In addition, the European Parliament hired an Exhibition Space at the Europe Day. The FCO and EU institutions also jointly fund a number of development projects aimed to assist accession states prior to their joining the European Union, under the `Action Plans' scheme, which started in 1999 and the Global Opportunities Fund which started in 2003. The Global Opportunity Fund also has a broader focus beyond Europe. I will write to my hon. Friend with further details of joint funded projects under the Actions Plans the Global Opportunities Fund. No jointly-funded projects are currently planned for this year, with the exception of the Action Plan and Global Opportunity Fund programmes.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

432 c1089-90W; 221375

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Finance Publicity UK membership of EU Foreign and Commonwealth Office European Commission

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk