SCHOOLCHILDREN and the "vulnerable" are being courted by the European Union in an effort to "step up transnational information and communication" about the single currency.

Cynics might suggest the fact that grants are being handed out to people who target the vulnerable is in some way disturbing, but surely this cannot be true.

Would the bureaucrats in Brussels really stoop so low? The answer is, er, yes.

Cash is available to non-profit making organisations in the EU who will come up with proposals to target the following - and these are quoted verbatim from an internet page entitled European Commission: Projects at Work - about the euro's merits:

Small and medium enterprises.

Civil Society.

Young people of school age.

Vulnerable groups.

Regional and local authorities as well as ultraperipheral regions.

Anyone who is interested should contact the Commission for the European Communities,

Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs,

"PRINCE programme/euro. Call for proposals"

c/o Mr G Ingber,

BU 1-1/10

ue de la Loi/Wetstraat 200

B-1049 Brussels

Belgium

However, Europhiles ought to get their skates on, as applications for grants must be returned by Monday, October 2.

Interestingly, the EU thinks women are another target group in the war to win over a sometimes sceptical public.

For some time the Eurocrats have been canvassing women's groups across the Continent in preparation for launching "a platform for further actions".