§ Mr. Foulkesasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what level of European Economic Community agricultural expenditure was fixed for 1986 under the budgetary discipline arrangements; what is his current estimate of agricultural expenditure in 1986; what steps he will take to ensure that agricultural spending does not exceed the budgetary discipline limit; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BrookeThe Council of Ministers agreed last year on a financial guideline of 20,619 mecu for agricultural market support expenditure in 1986 for the Community of Ten. The EC budget for 1986 includes 20,445 mecu for such expenditure with an additional 567 mecu for expenditure in Spain and Portugal giving a total of 21,012 mecu for the whole Community. The EC Commission in its proposals for CAP prices for 1986–87 has indicated its intention of seeking 790 mecu supplementary provision for agriculture in 1986, mainly to take account of the effects96W of the significant fall in the value of the dollar against the ecu since the 1986 budget was drawn up. Both the Council of Ministers and the Commission have committed themselves under the budget discipline conclusions to make every effort to avoid the need to take supplementary provision for agriculture. It will be a key United Kingdom objective to ensure that the budget discipline conclusions are respected in the CAP price fixing negotiation.