From the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women: Patricia Doyle-Bedwell, President; Stella Lord, Planning & Development Officer.

Next month we will have a full-time liaison officer in the binational planning group in Colorado Springs so that we and through us the civilian departments of the Government of Canada will be able to play effectively in that military planning capacity that BPG is designed to deliver.

2. The Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and to the Council, at the latest one year after the deadline for establishment of the maritime spatial plans, and every four years thereafter, a report outlining the progress made in implementing this Directive.

The report presents a number of proposals for improvements of the programme and project administration. The report covers the following themes: planning and kick off, distribution and spending of funds regionally and centrally, innovation and coherence between Objective 3, NAP and EES.

The Council took note of the Presidency's interim report on the CFSP Policy Planning and Early Warning Unit reflecting the outcome of discussions in the Political Committee and in the Committee of Permanent Representatives and agreed that budgetary provision shall be made for 1999 for the recruitment of 20 additional 'A'-officials for the Policy Planning and Early Warning Unit as specified in the interim report.

Evidence of the problems to which this financial management culture gives rise can be seen in the budgetary planning far in excess of the Commission s real ability to plan and spend; in weak management of available funds (which are paid out without regard to the legislator s objectives and/or without sufficiently clear targets being specified for achievement through the expenditure in question, and often without sufficient attention to cost- effectiveness); and in failure to act quickly and vigorously to recover funds wrongly paid or overpaid.