EC Budget Council

HC Deb 24 November 1994 vol 250 c351W

Ms Quin

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the outcome of the EC Budget Council held on 16 November.

Mr. Heathcoat-Amory

I represented the United Kingdom at the Budget Council on 16 November. The Council considered the European Parliament's proposed changes to the draft budget which the Council established in July,Official Report, 17 October 1994, columns 1–4; and established a second reading draft budget for 1995.

	Financial perspective expenditure ceilings	Preliminary draft budget2	Parliament draft budget	Council second reading draft budget
Commitment appropriations	mecu	£ million1	mecu	£ million	mecu	£ million	mecu	£ million
1. Common Agricultural Policy	36,994	29,219	36,994	29,219	36,449	28,487	36,994	28,913
2. Structural operations	25,264	19,745	25,264	19,745	25,264	19,745	25,264	19,745
3. Internal policies	4,652	3,636	4,610	3,603	4,523	3,544	4,321	3,535
4. External action	4,605	3,599	4,555	3,560	4,572	3,573	4,393	3,433
5. Administration expenditure	3,852	3,011	3,827	2,991	3,823	2,988	3,811	2,979
6. Reserves	1,146	896	1,146	896	1,146	896	1,146	896
Total commitments	76,513	59,799	76,396	59,708	75,775	59,222	75,930	59,343
Total payment appropriations	72,924	56,994	72,417	56,597	71,318	55,739	72,000	56,272
1 Throughout this reply the rate of £1=1.2795 ecu has been used (the rate notified in the Official Journal as prevailing on the last working day of last month (31 October).
2 Including letter of amendment No. 1 to the PDB for 1995.

The European Parliament will consider the draft budget for 1994 at its plenary session in December. The 1995 Community Budget is expected to be adopted by the Parliament on 15 December, to take effect from 1 January.

The Council took no formal votes, the presidency concluding that there was the necessary majority to establish the second reading draft budget for 1995.

The Budget Council also discussed the revision of the financial perspective to take account of enlargement.