This year the government will be splashing out a total of Lm218,100 in public funds to be used by non-governmental organisations to inform their members about various aspects of the European Union, now that Malta is 14 months into negotiations for membership.

This year's sum goes out to no less than 65 organisations - ranging from trade unions, pro and anti-EU lobbies, farmers' associations and co-operatives and others.

Over the past three years the government has allocated Lm580,000 for this purpose. The GWU, the UHM, the Federation of Industry and the Chamber of Commerce were given Lm25,000 each every year since 1999, while the GRTU received Lm20,000 for each year.

The remaining funds were allocated by a special committee appointed by the government to decide on applications from NGOs wishing to obtain funds to expose their respective members to the EU.

Foreign Affairs Minister Joe Borg recently said, in a reply to a parliamentary question, that the funds are paid out of his ministry's budget.

In all, eight unions and a confederation of unions were allocated Lm257,500 for three years. Co-operatives and farmers' associations, totalling seven, obtained Lm12,900. The pro-EU lobby, IVA-Malta fl-Ewropa, and the anti-EU accession lobby, the Campaign for National Independence, were granted Lm3,000 each for 2001.

Alternattiva Demokratika, meanwhile, was allocated Lm10,500 for the 1999-2001 period.