HL Deb 22 December 1981 vol 426 cc405-6WA
Baroness Elles

asked Her Majesty's Government:

  1. (i) on what criteria assistance from the European 406 Development Fund is distributed between the British overseas countries and territories associated with the European Community;
  2. (ii) what is the current allocation between the overseas countries and territories;
  3. (iii) whether the distribution is revised when former overseas countries and territories achieve independence; and
  4. (iv) what other sources of European Community finance are available to British overseas countries and territories.

Lord Carrington

Under the 1980 Council Decision aid is allotted to the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) on objective criteria which take special account of the population, size and poverty of each recipient. For 1980–85 British OCTs have been given the following allocations:—

A. Present dependencies Mn. ECUs*
Anguilla 0.40
British Virgin Islands 0.50
Cayman Islands 0.50
Falkland Islands 0.50
Montserrat 0.70
St. Helena 0.45
St. Kitts and Nevis 2.20
Turks and Caicos Islands 0.50
B. Former dependencies
Vanuatu 2.50
St. Vincent and the Grenadines 4.00
Antigua 2.70
Belize 5.50
*1 ECU = approximately £0.58

Allocations are not revised when OCTs achieve independence. On their accession as independent countries to the Lomé Convention their country allocations are transferred from OCT to African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) funds within the general envelope of the European Development Fund (EDF), which is increased by the relevant amount. The countries listed in 'B' above have all either already acceded to the Second Lomé Convention or are in process of so doing.

Apart from their country allocations OCTs have access under the 1980 Council Decision to 11.00 million ECUs for regional co-operation, 9.00 million ECUs for STABEX transfers, 3.25 million ECUs for emergency aid, 7.00 million ECUs for risk capital and 3.75 million ECUs for interest rate subsidies on European Investment Bank (EIB) loans. The EIB has agreed to make available up to 15 million ECUs for the OCTs during 1980–85. These sums are not allotted to the dependencies of any particular member state.

British OCTs can qualify for aid given by the Community to joint financing of projects sponsored by voluntary agencies, for which 14.00 million ECUs is provided in the 1981 budget. In principle they are also eligible for food aid, for support under the SYSMIN scheme and for investments made by the EIB from its own resources to mining and energy projects recognised as being of mutual interest by the Community and the OCT concerned, but in practice the scope for such assistance is negligible.