§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what additional funds Her Majesty's Government have authorised to be paid to the European Economic Community to enable it to finance its policies till the end of the year.
§ Mr. Ian StewartAt the Foreign Affairs Council on 2 October, the Council agreed to the establishment of the draft supplementary budget No. 1 for 1984, which is now604W under examination by the European Parliament. The supplementary budget is needed in order to enable the Community to meet its obligations under the CAP in 1984 to farmers and traders in all Member States including the United Kingdom. The Council agreed that supplementary finance for this Budget should take the form of contributions by the member states, totalling some 1,003 mecu, under an inter-Government agreement. The United Kingdom's gross share of the cost of this would be some 200 mecus or roughly £120 million. The gross cost will be partially offset by the United Kingdom's share of the expenditure in question.
The Government made clear that it would not be in a position to complete its national procedures for obtaining Parliament's approval of the agreement until the United Kingdom has received its refunds for 1983 and the Council has reached agreement on the measures necessary to guarantee the principles of budget discipline approved by the European Council. The Council took note of this in the inter-Government agreement. The Government will not seek Parliament's approval of the inter-Government agreement under the appropriate procedures, nor will it make payment until both these conditions have been met. The European Parliament on 10 October agreed to the release of the 1983 refunds by a large majority. It is expected that they will be received shortly.