§ Mr. Brightasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will make a statement about the Budget Council on 24 October.
§ Mr. Ian StewartI represented the United Kingdom at this Council in Strasbourg. The Council discussed amendments and modifications proposed by the European Parliament to the draft supplementary budget No. 1 for 1984, the contents of which had been agreed in the Budget Council on 6 and 7 September in Brussels, at which I also represented the United Kingdom.
The draft supplementary budget No. 1 was established by the Foreign Affairs Council on 2 October. It was also agreed that supplementary finance totalling 1,003 million ecu should be provided under an inter-Government agreement. In April the Commission proposed a sum of 2.33 billion ecu for supplementary finance, but in June, when presenting the preliminary draft supplementary budget, this figure was revised down to 2.01 billion ecu; after discussions at the Budget Council in July, a figure of 1.35 billion ecu was proposed by the presidency. Provisional agreement was eventually reached in the September Budget Council to reduce the amount of finance required to 1,003 million ecu. The Foreign Affairs Council on 2 October noted that the United Kingdom's willingness to participate in the provision of supplementary financing would depend on the receipt of the refunds due to us in respect of 1983 and on agreement being reached by the Council on the measures necessary to guarantee the principles of budgetary discipline agreed by the European Council.
The United Kingdom share of the supplementary finance of 1,003 million ecu will be about 20 per cent. Our gross contribution of 201 million ecu will be substantially offset by agricultural receipts.
The Budget Council on 24 October rejected all but two of the Parliament's proposed changes, including those 766W which would have increased the supplementary finance required. The Budget Council accepted the proposal to transfer 150 million ecu to provide for special measures on the sale of butter at Christmas; and there was no qualified majority to reject the proposal to transfer all the appropriations in chapter 100 to the budget lines. These changes do not alter the size of the budget or the amount of supplementary finance.