§ Sir Richard BodyTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the correction of budgetary imbalances as experienced in the preliminary draft European Union budget for 1998, and its effect on the United Kingdom contribution to the European Union budget. [12511]
§ Mrs. LiddellThe sterling value of the United Kingdom (UK) abatement contained in the 1998 preliminary draft budget—2,066 mecu—will be determined by the pound/ecu exchange rate which applies at the end of this calendar year. If the rate were to remain at the level it was at on 30 September—£1 = 1.4501 ecu—the reduction to the UK's contribution due to the abatement would be £1,425 million in 1998.
§ Sir Richard BodyTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are the actual and projected European Union budgets for(a) 1996–97, (b) 1997–98 and (c) 1998–99; what are the gross and net contributions from the United Kingdom (i) in sterling, (ii) in ecus and (iii) as a percentage of all national contributions in each year; and if he will make a statement. [12290]
§ Mrs. LiddellThe European Community budgets on a calendar year basis.
The table sets out the information requested in respect of the United Kingdom's gross contribution before abatement for the calendar years 1996, 1997 and 1998.
1996 1997 1998 Total contributions by Member States 72,160 mecu 77,372 mecu 82,313 mecu UK gross contribution, before abatement, 11,000 mecu 11,332 mecu 13,631 mecu and percentage of total contributions 15.25 per cent. 14,65 per cent. 16.56 per cent. UK gross contribution, before abatement, (sterling) £8,825 million £8,355 million £9,400 million Sources:
Figures for total contributions and UK gross contribution before abatement (mecu) taken from: 1996 Supplementary and Amending Budget; 1997 draft Supplementary and Amending Budget: 1998 Draft Budget. The sterling equivalent of the UK figures have been derived by converting at the following exchange rates:
1996 £1 = 1.2467 ecu; 1997 £ = 1.3564 ecu; 1998 £ = 1.4501 ecu.
The UK's net contribution for 1996, expressed in sterling and based on the cash transactions which took place during the year, was £2,352 million. The current estimate on the same basis for 1997 is £1,342 million. These net contribution figures include adjustments and corrections made in respect of our VAT and GNP-based contributions, of our abatement and of Community spending for earlier years. The figures are thus not directly comparable to the gross revenue raised in respect of particular Community budgets.
As is usual, the Government will provide an estimate of the net contribution for the Community budgetary year 1998 in the annual White Paper "Statement on the Community Budget", once the Budget for that year has been adopted and when the revenue and spending requirements for the year are known.
656WThe figures in the table and the amounts for the net contribution demonstrate the wide fluctuation to which the UK's contributions to the EC budget are subject. These fluctuations are principally due to a range of technical factors such as the timing of our payments and receipts, adjustments and corrections to our contributions in earlier years, exchange rate movements and changes and corrections in the value of the UK's abatement.