Argument over funding priorities for Union information campaigns

Date: 22/05/1997

THE future of an EU-financed information campaign to promote public understanding of the latest reform of the Union's treaties will hinge on the outcome of talks next week between the European Parliament and the Commission.

MEPs are being warned that, without extra funds, the information drive spelling out the implications for EU citizens of the Intergovernmental Conference will have to be suspended after the summer recess.

With the IGC due to end next month, this would mean suspension of the Commission-organised campaign at the very moment when national ratification of the new treaty could be expected to heighten public interest in its contents.

At stake is the distribution of 45 million ecu specifically included in this year's Union budget for information activities.

The Parliament decided last year to freeze one-third of the amount until it was satisfied with the content and organisation of three EU public information campaigns on treaty reform, the single currency and the single market.

Institutional Affairs Commissioner Marcelino Oreja has been lobbying hard in recent weeks to try to convince the Parliament to allocate the bulk of the outstanding 15 million ecu to the IGC campaign.

But an influential group of MEPs believes greater emphasis should be placed on the single currency, given the fundamental upheaval it will cause to the public's perception of the Union. They also suggest that a decision on the IGC campaign should be taken once the shape of the new Treaty of Amsterdam is clear.

“Unlike the euro and the single market programmes which have specific targets, the IGC is more of a moving target,” said Dutch Liberal MEP and parliamentary budgetary rapporteur Laurens Brinkhorst.

A small group of parliamentarians will meet a Commission team headed by Oreja next week to try to settle the dispute.

Oreja already has the support of his economic affairs colleague Yves-Thibault de Silguy for 10 million ecu of the outstanding funds to go to the IGC project, 3 million ecu to the euro and

2 million ecu to the single market programme. That would give the first two campaigns 20 million ecu each this year and the third 5 million ecu.

But that is unlikely to win MEPs' support since De Silguy has also indicated that he would expect a share of some of the Union's unspent funds when the Parliament examines this year's spending trends in the autumn. “We cannot prejudge the future,” said Brinkhorst.