§ Mr. Cabornasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the legal status of the Council of Ministers' document on budget discipline; and whether it rests on any Commission proposal.
§ Mr. Ian StewartThe Council of Ministers' document on budgetary discipline takes the form of "Conclusions of the Council". By adopting it, the Council has bound itself to observe the rules laid down in it governing both agricultural and non-agricultural expenditure. The legal status of the text could in the last resort be decided only by the European Court.
The document does not itself rest on any proposal from the Commission, but the Commission's undertakings relating to its own role in agricultural price fixing have been annexed to the Council document.
§ Mr. Cabornasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Council of Ministers' document on budget discipline is for internal application to the Council only.
§ Mr. Ian StewartThe Council of Ministers' document on budget discipline represents the Council's conclusions on the procedures it will observe in its role as part of the budgetary authority. The Commission has also, however, given specific undertakings regarding its role in the agricultural price-fixing and in the management of agricultural spending. These undertakings are an integral part of the system and the text of them is annexed to the Council's conclusions.
§ Mr. Cabornasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how the Council of Ministers considers its budget discipline proposals affect the rights of the European Parliament as one of the arms of budgetary authority.
§ Mr. Ian StewartThe conclusions adopted by the Foreign Affairs Council on 4 December on measures to guarantee the effective application of budgetary discipline
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