§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish in the Official Report the amount spent by the European Economic Community on information and publicity in each of the past 10 years, and the share of the cost attributable to the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Ian StewartThe United Kingdom contributes, via the own resources system, to the whole Community budget and revenue is not hypothecated to specific expenditure programmes.
The following table shows the Commission's expenditure on publishing and information between 1973 and 1982. The largest element of this expenditure is the cost of publishing the Official Journal. It also shows the United Kingdom's average financing share over the same period. Under the transitional arrangements which lasted from 1973–79, the United Kingdom paid a lower financing share.
Commission Expenditure on information and publishing Million European Units of Account* United Kingdom financing share per cent. 1973 8 8.8 1974 10 11.0 1975 13 13.6 1976 14 16.2 1977 16 19.2 1978 24 Million European Currency Units* 15.4 1979 21 17.5 1980 27 20.5 1981 30 21.5 1982 36 23.5 * There is a discontinuity in the series following the introduction of the ecu in 1978. Figures before 1978 cannot, therefore, be directly compared with those afterwards.