§ Mr. Higginsasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the European Economic Community is committed to implementation of the United Kingdom's budgetary abatement in full, whether or not any supplementary budget is agreed.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe European Community is under an obligation, under the new own resources decision, which has treaty status, to implement the United Kingdom budgetary abatement in full. On the basis of estimates of the United Kingdom's entitlement, provision for the abatement is made in the Community budget for the year following that for which the abatement is due. We are this year already receiving an abatement of £830 million in respect of 1985. A correction to the main abatement falls to be made if outturn figures differ from the earlier estimates.
On the basis of the outturn figures for 1985, the Commission has calculated that an additional sum is due to the United Kingdom. The revenue correction through which our abatement is made is written into the Community budget. The Commission has said that it will make provision for the additional abatement at the earliest opportunity, that is, in the supplementary budget it plans to bring forward shortly.