§ Mr. Spearingasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the current value in US dollars of the European unit of account and the agricultural unit of account, respectively; what were these values on 1st January of each year from 1970 to 1977; by what percentage common agricultural policy prices in each EEC member State diverge from the agricultural unit of account on 30th January 1978; and what the divergence would be if the market rate for 733W the European unit of account were to be substituted for the agricultural unit of account or if prices now expressed in agricultural unit of account were to be expressed in European unit of account on the basis of these units having equal value.
§ Mr. Bishop,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 3rd February 1978; Vol. 943, c. 360–1] gave the following information:
The average value of the European unit of account (EUA) and the agricul-
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 AUA 1.00 1.00 1.09 1.09 1.14 1.36 1.24 1.33 EUA — — — — — — 1.16 1.12 Source: Eurostat.
The percentage differences between the market rate with the AUA used for the purposes of calculating monetary compensatory amounts for each member State applicable on 30th January, and the representative rates used for converting common support prices were: United Kingdom—30.7 per cent.; Italy +25.8 per cent.; France, 20.9 per cent.; Ireland—3.6 per cent.; Denmark, nil; Benelux, +1.4 per cent.; Germany, +7.5 per cent. If EUA market rates were used for this calculation, assuming no changes in the numerical value of common prices or in representative rates, these percentages would be: United Kingdom,—7.7 per cent.; Italy,—3.5 per cent.; France, nil; Ireland +14.6 per cent.; Denmark, +17.6 per cent.; Netherlands, +18.4 per cent.; Belgium/Luxembourg, +18.5 per cent.; Germany, +23.9 per cent.