§ Sir Teddy TaylorTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions the European Council has established a budget in which the resources ceiling has been less than the declared commitments; by what percentage in each case the commitments have exceeded the resources ceiling; and what were the comparable percentages in respect of the resources ceiling and commitments agreed at the Edinburgh Council meeting.
§ Sir John Cope[holding answer 10 February 1993]: The 1988 own resources decision (88/376/EEC, Euratom) sets separate ceilings on the own resources available to finance payments from the Community budget, and on total commitments. The ceiling on commitments is set at 1.30 per cent. of Community GNP, which is higher than 23W the 1.20 per cent. own resources ceiling specified for 1992. The difference reflects the fact that some commitments will in practice not be taken up and so will not result in payments being made. There is, also in some cases, a considerable time lag between commitments and payments. As long as the Community economy continues to grow such expenditure commitments will represent a smaller proportion of Community GNP when the payments are made than when the commitments were given. However, article 3 of the own resources decision also requires the Community to maintain a compatible relationship between commitment appropriations and payment appropriations to enable the own resources ceiling to be maintained.
The European Council held at Brussels in February 1988 agreed the figures shown in table 1.
The corresponding figures agreed by the Edinburgh European Council in 1992 are given in table 2. (In addition to agreeing to increase the own resources ceiling from 1.20 per cent. of GNP to 1.27 per cent. by 1999, the European Council also agreed to increase the limit on commitments from 1.30 per cent. to 1.335 per cent. of GNP).
Table 1 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 (1) Own resources ceiling (per cent, of GNP) 1.15 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 (2) Payment appropriations as per cent, of GNP 1.12 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 (3) Commitment appropriations as per cent, of GNP 1.160 1.180 1.200 1.215 1.235
Table 2 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 (1) Own resources ceiling (percentage of GNP) 1.20 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.24 1.26 1.27 (2) Payment appropriations as percentage of GNP 1.20 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.23 1.25 1.26 (3) Commitment appropriations as percentage of GNP 1.260 1.250 1.260 1.275 1.290 1.310 1.325 (3)-(l) Extent to which commitments exceed own resources ceiling (percentage of GNP) 0.060 0.050 0.050 0.055 0.050 0.050 0.055 (3)-(2) Extent to which commitments exceed payments (percentage of GNP) 0.060 0.060 0.060 0.065 0.060 0.060 0.065