§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total net burden—gross payments to the EC less abatement on the United Kingdom Exchequer—of EC spending in the current financial year; and by how much it will increase in 1995–96 and 1996–97.
§ Mr. Heathcoat-AmoryThe Government's current forecast of the United Kingdom's gross contributions to European Community Institutions and our abatement for the current financial year, together with forecasts for the period 1995–96 and 1996–97, are set out in table 11.1 of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's departmental report—Cm 2517, page 92. As is usual, revised forecasts are being prepared for the Budget.
§ Sir Teddy TaylorTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assumptions he made about the growth of gross domestic product in the EU as a whole in his calculation about the consequences of the increased resources agreed at the Edinburgh summit.
§ Mr. Heathcoat-AmoryThe effect of the Edinburgh financing settlement will be to increase the United Kingdom's net contribution to the EC budget by about £75 million in 1995–96, rising to £250 million in 1999 compared with what we would have paid if the present 1.2 per cent. own resources ceiling had been retained.
This estimate is based on the assumption that EU GNP will grow by 2½per cent. a year in real terms, and that inflation will be 2½ per cent. a year, over the period 1995 to 1999.