§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food which sectors of agricultural spending or spending related to agriculture were not covered by the 20.6 billion ecu limit agreed for agricultural spending in 1986 at the meeting of the Council of Finance Ministers on Monday 8 July; and if any limits have been fixed for spending in these excluded categories.
§ Mr. JoplingThe 20.6 billion ecu is the maximum level of expenditure from the guarantee section of the European agricultural guidance and guarantee fund (excluding fisheries) in 1986 calculated by the Commission for the Community of Ten in accordance with the financial guideline. It does not include expenditure from the guidance section of the fund (634 Mecu in 1984) or the items of agricultural expenditure financed from chapter 38 of section IIIB of the Community budget, notably animal health measures and agricultural research (56 Mecu in 1984).
The amount of financial assistance that may be charged to the guidance section of the EAGGF is limited under article 6 of Regulation (EEC) No. 729/70, currently to 5,250 million ecu for the period 1985 to 1989. In addition all non-obligatory expenditure in the Community budget (which includes the majority of chapter 38 of IIIB and some of the guidance section) is subject to the maximum rate of increase provided for in article 203 of the EEC treaty.
Community expenditure as a whole is covered by the reference framework which is established at the beginning of the budgetary procedure in accordance with the Council's conclusions on budget discipline.