§ Mr. Budgenasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement about payment of own resources to the European Commission in June and July.
§ Mr. RidleyThe advance payment of £112,830,000 made from the Contingencies Fund on 20 June which I reported to the House on 23 June, will be repaid to the Contingencies Fund from Class II Vote 10 1983–84 presented to the House on 8 July. This advance will be deducted from the normal payment of own resources paid direct from the Consolidated Fund on 20 July.
The Commission has, in accordance with article 10(2) of Council Regulation 2891/77, requested that member states advance by one month the payments of own resources, other than VAT resources, normally due on 20 August. This is in respect of agricultural levies and customs duties collected in June.
A repayable advance of £115 million will be made from the Contingencies Fund on 20 July. As with the June advance, payments directly charged to the Consolidated Fund under section 2(3) of the European Communities Act will be reduced by the amount of the advance.
A Supplementary Estimate will be presented to enable the Contingencies Fund to be repaid.