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European Union: Citizenship

Volume 459: debated on Tuesday 17 April 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the UK is taking under the Europe for Citizens programme (EU budget code 15 01 04 66); and if she will make a statement. (130639)

I have been asked to reply.

The UK supports the new Europe for Citizens Programme, which runs until 2013. The Government hope that citizens in the UK will take up opportunities the programme offers. These include co-operation projects such as town twinning, structural support for civil society organisations of general European interest and the preservation of the main sites and archives associated with the deportations and the commemoration of the victims of Nazism and Stalinism. The judging of eligible projects will be carried out by independent assessors from member states co-ordinated in Brussels by the Commission. As with all such EU programmes, bureaucracy is being reduced to make it easier for UK citizens to join with their counterparts in other EU countries in participating.