In fact much advice is given during technical and political consultations. The dividing lines between 'consultation', 'advising' and 'decision-making' are not always clear to outsiders. The Minister for Cooperation and Development submits an annual Statement on aid to Parliament, as an annex to the Finance Act. The National Assembly has a Foreign Affairs Committee. However, no substantial discussions appear to be conducted in Parliament.
Many outside actors make an indirect contribution at least to the preparation of future policies.
Ad hoc working groups or committees may be appointed to deal with specific subjects, e.g. the Scientific Committee on Women in Development set up to prepare for the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing, which includes representatives of the ministries concerned and the French and European Parliaments, and journalists. Some departments responsible for development cooperation have informal brainstorming relationships with outside specialists and institutions. It functions in a rather informal and independent way, with members from inside as well as outside the Government. This is supposed to reach 5 per cent by 2002. Many of the several hundred French NGOs are involved actively in French cooperation programmes, through project identification and preparation, implementation, evaluation, studies and discussions.