§ Mr. Traceyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement about an advance of own resources payments to the European Communities in February.
§ Mr. Ian StewartThe Commission has, in accordance with article 10(2) of Council Regulation 2891/77, invited member states to advance from 20 March to 20 February payments of own resources other than VAT in respect of agricultural, sugar and isoglucose levies and customs duties collected by the Government on their behalf in January. The Government are complying with this request.
404WThe advance will reduce the Commission's current cash flow difficulties and enable the Commission to meet its commitments for payment, including those to United Kingdom recipients.
Pending Parliamentary approval of a spring supplementary estimate, payment of £125 million will be made by a repayable advance from the contingencies fund. The payment of levies and duties on 20 March 1985 which is made directly from the consolidated fund under section 2(3) of the European Communities Act 1972 will be reduced by the amount of the advance. Forecast public expenditure is not therefore affected.