HL Deb 04 February 1981 vol 416 cc1197-8

2.42 p.m.

The Earl of Kinnoull

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will make a statement on the EEC payment due to the Scotch whisky distillers.

The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Earl Ferrers)

My Lords, agreement to the payment of refunds on Community cereals which are used in exported Scotch whisky was secured at the 1980 price-fixing. We are now pressing for early implementation of the Commission proposals which were presented in December last year.

The Earl of Kinnoull

My Lords, while thanking my noble friend for that reply, may I ask him to explain whether the refunds are retrospective, how far they go back, whether they are interest-bearing and when they will be paid?

Earl Ferrers

My Lords, when we joined the Community, the Council of Ministers said that in the absence of an agreement by 1st August, 1973, on an alcohol regime, which was then being discussed, refunds under Protocol 19, which deals with cereals included in spirit drinks, would be paid as from that date. At the 1980 price fixing, as there had been no agreement on an alcohol régime, the Council decided in response to pressure from my right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture that as from 1st January 1981 refunds would be provided for cereals used in exported spirits under the cereals réegime, as Protocol 19 determined. Approximately £18 million per year will be the value of this, and the retrospective value, which is of course a matter yet for discussion, we consider to be in the region of £60 million.

Lord Davies of Leek

My Lords, is the noble Earl telling the House that the EEC still owes the poor Scotch distillers money? If that is so, will the noble Earl tell us how much trade the European Common Market is likely to gain in view of the fact that 100 of those marvellous European MPs are bouncing around South America at the European taxpayers' expense, at a quarter of a million quid a time?

Earl Ferrers

My Lords, the answer to the noble Lord's first supplementary question is, Yes. I am unable to give him a satisfactory reply to his observation about Members of the European Parliament bouncing around South America.