§ Mr. Nicholas BrownTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the latest figure she has for(a) the total value of moneys purloined from the common agricultural policy's export refund and price support schemes and (b) how much the common agricultural policy has lost through the evasion of customs duties and farm levies; and if she will estimate the proportion of defrauded funds that are recouped.
§ Mr. JackCases reported by member states of iregularity, including details of the amounts recovered, under the EAGGF guarantee, fund, which includes CAP export refund and price support schemes, and cases of irregularity under the own resources regulation, which includes customs duties and farm levies under the CAP, are shown in table 1.1 of the annual report from the Commission on the Fight Against Fraud1, a copy of which has been placed in the Library. Details of the value of own resources irregularities recovered are not separately identifiable.
489WIrregularity in this context encompasses all reported overpayments, whether caused by simply negligence or deliberate intent to defraud. Statistics on the number of irregularities should not therefore be interpreted as an indication of the extent of detected fraud within the Community.
1 1992 Report, COM(93) Final of 20 April 1993—Table 1.1, cases of fraud or irregularity reported above deminimus level of 10,000 ecu Own Resources and 4,000 ecu Guarantee Fund.
§ Mr. Nicholas BrownTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what level of European Community expenditure will be necessary to sustain the current level of production.
§ Mr. JackLevel of agricultural production is ultimately determined by the aggregate decisions of individual farmers, who when making these decisions will take into account forecast returns for each crop, including Community support payments to which they may be entitled.
§ Mr. Nicholas BrownTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will estimate by how much common agricultural prices have risen in weak currency countries as a direct result of the system of pegging farm prices to the deutschmark via the switchover system for each country.
§ Mr. JackCommon agricultural policy support prices in all European Community member states are 20.75 per cent. higher in national currency terms than they would be without the application of the switchover coefficient. The effect of this coefficient has, however, been offset to some extent by associated reductions in the common ecu level of support prices: the net effect is that prices are just under 19 per cent. higher. However, support prices are set by the Council of Ministers in the annual price-fixing negotiations. It is not possible to say what prices would have been set had the switchover system not existed.
§ Mr. MorleyTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proportion of the common agricultural policy's budget is accounted for by(a) administrative costs, (b) storage costs, (c) disposal costs and (d) export restitutions in the current financial year.
§ Mr. JackThe CAP budget for 1994 has been set at 36,465 mecu—£27,566 million. This does not cover expenditure incurred by either the Commission or the member states in the administration of the CAP, with the exception of some anti-fraud measures, which account for about 0.4 per cent. of the budget. Intervention storage, including depreciation costs and profits on sale, and export refunds account for 9 per cent and 20.8 per cent., respectively. With regard to disposal costs, surpluses are generally either exported on to world markets with the aid of export refunds, or purchased into intervention storage, from which they are eventually sold out again. Some perishable products, such as fruit and vegetables and fish, may be withdrawn from the market, and may, for example, be used for non-food purposes or be donated to charities. Some of this produce, because of its perishable nature, may be destroyed. Withdrawals and similar operations account for 2.6 per cent. of the 1994 budget.