§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the scale of production aid for tomato products in 1973 and in each of the past five years under the Common Agricultural Policy, the amount of the surpluses produced, and the cost to the European Economic Community budget of the production and disposal of tomatoes and tomato products.
§ Mrs. FennerThere were no EEC production aids for tomato products in 1973. The varying rates of aid which apply from 1980–81 are complex. Details will be found in the following volumes of the Official Journal of the European Communities which are in the Library of the House: L135 of 31 May 1980 (Regulation 1345/80); L192 of 15 July 1981 (Regulation 1963/81); L178 of 22 June 1982 (Regulation 1585/82); L159 of 17 June 1983 (Regulation 1618/83) and L179 of 6 July 1984 (Regulation 1925 /84).
There has been no surplus of tomato products stored at Community expense. The cost to the Community budget of the production aid for tomato products was 418.5 mecu in 1982, 469.2 mecu in 1983 and 556.0 mecu in 1984. Separate figures for 1980 and 1981 are not available and tomato products cannot be separately identified within the costs of export refunds for processed fruit and vegetables.
The following two tables set out the information requested in respect of fresh tomatoes.
454W
Compensation for Withdrawals (MECU) 1973–74 1.58 1979–80 13.46
(MECU) 1980–81 6.39 1981–82 4.65 1982–83 5.03 1983–84 2.63 Export Refunds 1979–80 0.72 1980–81 0.58 1981–82 1.44 1982–83 1.86 1983–84 * * Separate figure for tomatoes not available.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the quotas for the production of tomato products for the three years starting in 1985–86; how these compare with production in 1973 and in each of the past five years; whether any compensation is being paid to producers for the cut in production; and what is the saving to the European Economic Community budget.
§ Mrs. FennerThe proposals for support for tomato products in 1985–86 are still under discussion in the Council. The Commission's proposals to the Council have been summarised and explained in a memorandum (No. 4582/85) deposited in the Library of the House.