Annex 2
UPDATE ON THE THIRD FAC REPORT, ON EU ENLARGEMENT
ANNEX A
EXAMPLES OF
GOVERNMENT ACTIVITY
TO PROMOTE
THE BENEFITS
OF EU MEMBERSHIP
AND ENLARGEMENT
Ministerial Speeches and Participation in Conferences
The Prime Minister gave a landmark speech on
Europe and Enlargement in Warsaw on 6 October 2000.
On 23 March, Mr John Battle, Minister of State
in the FCO, delivered a keynote speech at the "Europe 21"
conference on EU enlargement on "Enlargement and building
co-operation: a step on the third way", outlining to an audience
of business leaders, diplomats and academics the benefits of EU
enlargement.
On 4 May, the Minister for Europe, Keith Vaz,
gave a keynote speech at Chatham House on the need to reform the
EU for EU enlargement.
Mr Vaz delivered a speech to the Association
for Monetary Union in Europe on 15 June.
Joyce Quin, Minister of State and Deputy Minister,
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, delivered a keynote
speech at a Wilton Park conference on EU enlargement in Warsaw
on 3-6 June.
On 18 July, Mr Vaz spoke on "Bringing Europe
closer to the citizen" to the Local Government Conference.
On 25 July, the Foreign Secretary gave a keynote
speech in Budapest which moved the enlargement debate forward
and committed Britain to be a "champion of enlargement".
Mr Vaz delivered a speech on "Cultural
Diversity in Europe" on 11 August to open the Minorities
for Europe Conference.
New Initiatives
Since autumn 1999, the Minister for Europe,
Keith Vaz has visited 18 UK cities, including Leeds, Norwich,
Manchester, Liverpool, Southampton, Edinburgh and Cardiff, as
part of the FCO's "Your Britain, Your Europe" roadshow.
Improving public understanding of the issues connected with EU
enlargement was a key objective of this tour.
On Europe Day, 9 May 2000, the Minister for
Europe, Keith Vaz, opened the doors of the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office to the public. Over 7,000 visitors viewed stands from 26
European countries, including all of the candidate countries.
On 31 March and 1 April 2000 Mr Vaz hosted his
Visegrad 4 opposite numbers from the Czech Republic, Hungary,
Poland and Slovakia for informal discussions on building relations
with Central Europe and on enlargement at Hanbury Manor. Slovakia
will host a follow up event early next year.
On 29 February, the Secretary of State held
talks in London with the Visegrad 3 Foreign Ministers from the
Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland on European defence.
Publications
On 21 September, the Prime Minister and Swedish
Prime Minister Persson published a joint article "Reaching
out to all of Europe" in the Financial Times.
On 14 February, the Prime Minister and Czech
Prime Minister Zeman published a joint article "A Historic
Opportunity for Europe" in the Financial Times.
This summer's edition of the FCO's EU newsletter,
"Your Britain, Your Europe", focused on enlargement.
In May this year, new EU enlargement pages were
added to the FCO's website (www.fco.gov.uk).
In February this year, the FCO published a new
leaflet entitled "IGC: Reform for Enlargement", which
outlined the Government's position on preparing the EU for enlargement.
The Department of Trade and Industry published
a paper entitled "How might enlargement of the European Union
affect the economy of the United Kingdom" in January.
The FCO publishes a quarterly newsletter on
the practical assistance that the UK is providing to the candidate
countries, through "Twinning" projects to help them
prepare for EU membership.
Participation in Academic Debate
The FCO hosted a seminar with ESRC on 18 January
2000. The seminar, which focused on EU/CEE/CIS relations, brought
together academics and officials. It was chaired jointly by Nigel
Sheinwald, Director European Union, FCO, and Professor Helen Wallace,
University of Sussex. Professor Wallace is overseeing the ESRC's
project "One Europe or Several?" which is considering
the dynamics of change across Europe.
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