The proactive versus reactive approach: Operating on a minimum budget to function day-to-day, the AFCN and its member friendship centres are constantly reacting to the situations that arise versus taking on a proactive approach to planning, research, collaboration, and development of programs.

Question No. 1 Hon. Irwin Cotler: With regard to aboriginal justice, broken down by year from 2006 to the present: (a) how much money was dedicated to the Aboriginal Justice Strategy (AJS); (b) how much money was devoted to other aboriginal justice programs; (c) with respect to (a) and (b), by program, how much money was spent; (d) by whom were monies in (a) and (b) spent, on what dates, and for what purpose; (e) broken down by province and territory, on what dates were provinces and territories consulted with respect to funding of the AJS for the upcoming year; (f) broken down by province and territory, on what dates were the provi ...[+++]nces and territories consulted with respect to other aboriginal justice programs; (g) broken down by province and territory, how much did each request of the government with respect to the AJS; (h) broken down by province and territory, with which First Nations did the government consult with respect to the AJS; (i) with which First Nations groups and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) did the government consult with respect to the AJS; (j) with which other stakeholders did the government consult with respect to the AJS; (k) which stakeholders were informed of budget decisions relative to the AJS, by what means and on what dates; (l) broken down by province and territory, how much did each request of the government with respect to other aboriginal justice programs; (m) broken down by province and territory, with which First Nations did the government consult with respect to other aboriginal justice programs; (n) with which First Nations groups and NGOs did the government consult with respect to other aboriginal justice programs; (o) with which other stakeholders did the government consult with respect to other aboriginal justice programs; (p) how does the government determine stakeholders regarding aboriginal justice concerns; (q) by whom, with what criteria, and when was the AJS budget determined; (r) in what ways, by ...

EU Pilot Project on Intra-EU relocation from Malta (EUREMA): Under the European Refugee Fund (ERF) the Commission has financed two projects on the intra-EU relocation of refugees from Malta: one pilot project with the participation of France for an amount of € 770.000 and another, ongoing project known as "EUREMA" (European Relocation Malta) for an amount of nearly € 2 million.

Budget 2007 also included a renewed and strengthened equalization program, a renewed and strengthened territorial formula financing program, a new approach to long-term funding support for post-secondary education, a new approach to long-term funding support for training, a new long-term plan for infrastructure, and a new approach to allocating unplanned federal surpluses.

Assistance should be managed in accordance with the rules for External Aid contained in Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities , making use of the structures that have proved their worth in the pre-accession process, such as decentralised management, twinning and TAIEX (Technical Assistance Information Exchange Instrument), but should also allow for innovative approaches such as the implementation through Member States via shared management in case of cross-border programmes ...[+++] on the external borders of the European Union.

The Commission main conclusions are the following: the programme is broadly in line with the requirements of the Stability and Growth Pact; the programme presents three macroeconomic scenarios, but all the detailed projections for the public finance aggregates are based on the cautious scenario; in this scenario the government deficit falls to 1% of GDP in 2002; this prudent approach was adopted by the Dutch authorities to ensure sound public finances; a more optimistic scenario, the middle scenario, seems, however, to correspo ...[+++]nd more to the current consensus: in this scenario the government deficit falls close to balance in 2002; the fiscal consolidation effort projected from 1999 to 2002 appears to be less ambitious when compared with progress achieved in the years leading up to 1997; the emphasis is shifted further towards reduction in the tax burden as well as increased expenditure aimed at structural improvement; this approach is understandable but needs attentive monitoring by the Dutch authorities; all favourable opportunities should be taken in order further to reinforce the safety margin aimed at preventing the deficit exceeding the Treaty reference value of 3% of GDP, and thus to strengthen the budgetary position of the Netherlands.