§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, further to his answer to the hon. Member for Great Grimsby on 17 December 1984, Official Report, column 34, concerning monetary compensatory amounts, what effect the recent realignment of currencies within the European monetary system has had or will have on the coefficient used in calculating the monetary compensatory amounts; what effect this has on the prices paid to farmers in the United Kingdom and in other EEC countries; and if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing (a) the increase in the central rate of the European currency unit in each year since 1973, and (b) the increase in the rate for common agricultural policy prices and the corresponding increases for the United Kingdom and West Germany.
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§ Mr. GummerFollowing the EMS realignment on 12 January, the coefficient used in calculating MCAs has been increased by approximately 2.54 per cent. This has no effect on CAP support prices, expressed either in ecus or in national currencies. The ecu, which was created in 1979, has both a central rate and one or more representative rates for CAP purposes (green rates) against the national currencies of each member state. It is therefore not possible to provide the table requested.