§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much the Commission has allowed in its 1986 budget for the depreciation of intervention stocks of food and wine; whether any such provision has been made in previous budgets; and whether this sum is included within the agricultural budget for 1986.
§ Mr. GummerThe 1986 draft budget provides for expenditure of 273 million ecu for the depreciation of butter stocks and 150 million ecu for depreciation of beef stocks. To our knowledge the Commission has not previously made provision in the budget for stock depreciation. These sums are included in the guarantee section of the draft budget.
§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what were the reasons for making allowance in the 1986 budget for the depreciation of European Economic Community intervention stocks; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. GummerThe Commission's reasons for making provision in the 1986 preliminary draft budget (PDB) for the depreciation of intervention stocks are set out in pages A/18–19 of volume 7 of the European Community PDB for 1986, a copy of which is in the Library of the House.