§ Mr. Teddy TaylorTo ask the Prime Minister (1) if she will raise at the next meeting of the European Council the proposed expenditure by the EEC in 1990 of £9,000,000,000 on the disposal of food surpluses;
(2) if she will raise at the next meeting of the European Council the sums being spent on the disposal of food surpluses.
§ The Prime MinisterI have at present no plans to do so. The provision of £9 billion in the European Community s budget for the storage and withdrawal of agricultural products and for export refunds represents a reduction in real terms on the Community's 1989 budget. Surplus stocks are now a fraction of what they were at their peak and the proposed expenditure is well within the legally binding guideline which was one of the measures agreed at the February 1988 European Council as part of the process of CAP reform.
I shall certainly continue to take every opportunity to impress upon our Community partners the need for this process of reform to be maintained and for agriculture to be reformed worldwide in the context of the current multilateral trade negotiations.