§ Mr. Teddy TaylorTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the provision in the European Economic Community budget for the depreciation of intervention stocks is included within the agricultural guideline agreed by the Council in February; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe cost of depreciation of newly formed stocks is included within the guideline. The cost of depreciating older stocks (including butter under the special disposal scheme) is to be covered outside the guideline in the period 1988–92 by a provision of a 1.2 billion ecu in 1988 and 1.4 billion ecu annually thereafter (1988 prices).
§ Mr. Teddy TaylorTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the percentage increase in agricultural spending in the draft European Community budget for 1989 compared with 1988, disregarding the spending in 1988 which related to overspending in 1987; and what are the main reasons for the increase.
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§ Mr. MacGregorThe annual EC budgets for agricultural market support no longer cover a calendar year following decisions of the Council in 1987 and 1988 to delay the timing of payments to member states. The 1988 budget covers agricultural spending in the 11½months from November 1987, the provision for which is 9.2 billion ecu (£20 billion). This is equivalent to about 31 billion ecu over a full 12-month period. The preliminary draft budget for 1989 provides 30.7 billion ecu (£20.6 billion) for agricultural spending in the 12 months from mid-October 1988.
§ Mr. Teddy TaylorTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement setting out the manner in which savings are being made in the 1989 draft budget by using less skimmed milk powder in animal feed; and whether this change will create other expenditure or consequences.
§ Mr. MacGregorAt the beginning of June the EC Commission, with United Kingdom support, cut the rate of subsidy for the use of skimmed milk powder in animal feed to a level some 7 per cent. below that assumed in the Commission's 1989 preliminary draft budget, and lowered the required minimum amount of powder which must be included in subsidised feed. The Commission estimates that these reductions in subsidy and uptake, together with adjustments to other skimmed milk subsidies, should result in a saving of 285 million by comparison with the preliminary draft budget. No additional EC expenditure is anticipated in other areas as a result of these changes.
§ Mr. Teddy TaylorTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement setting out the manner in which £16 million is to be saved by the Commission in cutting saies to developing countries.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe Commission intends to propose to the Council a new provision for granting credit to developing countries to facilitate the export of agricultural produce. It had intended to set aside 100 million ecu (£67 million) for this in 1989 but has now reduced this by 24 mecu (£16 million) in order to respect the guideline.
§ Mr. Teddy TaylorTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement explaining the overspending in the agricultural budget in 1987, in the light of the assurances given in the 1984 own resources decision.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe 1984 agreement on budget discipline obliged the Council to keep expenditure on agricultural market support within the financial guideline. This was only achieved in 1987 by deferring repayment to member states for expenditure incurred in November and December. As a consequence much stricter rules on budget discipline were agreed by the European Council in February 1988.