§ Mr. Martenasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are the new arrangements for the payment of contributions to the EEC referred to in the Press notice issued by the Department of Trade on 14th June.
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§ Mr. Joel Barnett,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 21st June 1978; Vol. 952, c. 244], gave the following answer:
Following the agreement reached at the European Council on 5th and 6th December 1977 on the interpretation of Article 131 of the Treaty of Accession, the three new member States contribute to the 1978 and 1979 budgets in the first place on the basis of full own resources, but receive, outside the budget, quarterly refunds in arrears of the difference between full own resources and the Article 131 limit. In accordance with this procedure, United Kingdom gross contributions in the first quarter of this year amounted to £378 million, in respect of which a refund of £74 million has been received during the second quarter.