§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 26 October 1992,Official Report, columns 460–61, on the cohesion fund, if he will provide the calculations on relative wealth and fund eligibility on the basis of (a) real exchange rates and (b) normal rates.
§ Sir John CopeThe normal rate for calculations of relative wealth in respect of the structural funds is purchasing power parities; and the Edinburgh European Council confirmed that this would be the basis used for calculations of relative wealth and eligibility for the cohesion fund.
The Edinburgh European Council also agreed that the four member states with a per capita GNP of less than 90 per cent. of the EC average in purchasing power parities 331W would be eligible for the cohesion fund. These member states are Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain. The United Kingdom's per capita GNP on a purchasing power parities basis is around the EC average.