This was formed and chaired by Douglas Hurd at the request of Party Chairman Lord Thorneycroft in August 1977 in order to properly co-ordinate the work being done to foster knowledge of the EEC by various sections of the Party in the run-up to the first direct elections to the European Parliament. It It met for the first time on 4th August, 1977, at which time Douglas Hurd explained that the Group would be 'responsible for promoting the spread of accurate information about Europe and bringing together all the various efforts now being made in this field', but 'would not be concerned with policy or organisation. We would be concerned to ensure that the positive case for Europe did not go by default in future months, and to ensure the Party was well briefed when it started the actual campaign for direct elections as well as adequately informed once we were in Government.'