§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) if increases in prices at the 1974 EEC agricultural review will require a supplementary EEC budget during 1974;
(2) what steps he is taking within the EEC to prevent a repetition of the situation in 1973 when a supplementary budget was presented to the Council for 156W approval at very short notice, which left him no time to make a statement to Parliament before giving his approval.
§ Mr. HigginsI have been asked to reply.
The United Kingdom is playing a leading part in discussions within the framework of the Council of Ministers designed to improve financial control in the Community. Decisions already taken by the Commission include the improvement of monitoring of expenditure and an undertaking in principle not to propose a supplementary budget unless this is made necessary by unforeseeable changes in circumstances or by a new decision of the Council during the course of the year. Agricultural prices for 1974–75 will be discussed by the Council of Ministers during February. Whether the price review is likely to lead to a supplementary EEC budget cannot be judged until decisions are taken but this is one of the points to which the United Kingdom Government will be giving close attention during the review.