§ Mr. Forman asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will report on the outcome of the latest meeting of the European Community Budget Council.
§ Mr. BrookeThe Budget Council met in Strasbourg on Wednesday/Thursday of last week. I represented the United Kingdom.
The Council and the representatives of the European Parliament failed to reach agreement on the Community budget for 1986. The Council decided nevertheless by qualified majority to propose a further 242 mecu (some £150 million at the budget exchange rate of 1.61 ecu to the pound) of payment appropriations for non-obligatory 49W expenditure, on top of the provision proposed in the Council's revised draft budget, provided that agreement could be reached in the Parliament's plenary on this figure. I voted against this decision on the grounds that the figures in the Council's revised draft budget were already too high and represented a threat to budget discipline.
The Parliament's plenary voted on Thursday to increase the Council's revised draft budget figures by the larger sum of some 570 mecu in payment appropriations (about £355 million). This figure rises to some 630 mecu (about £390 million) after including the consequential increase in transitional refunds for Spain and Portugal. The Parliament also voted to increase the provision for commitment appropriations by some 410 mecu (about £255 million).
The President of the Parliament is expected to decide shortly whether to sign the budget as voted by the Parliament.