§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will calculate 1353W the change in CAP sterling payments to UK agriculture if the calculations had been based on ECU not the euro in each of the last three years. [37642]
§ Mr. MorleyIt is not possible to calculate what CAP sterling payments to UK agriculture would have been in each of the last three years had they been based on the ECU rather than the euro. The ECU has not existed in the last three years. Eleven of the 15 currencies from which it was calculated were pegged to the euro throughout that period, and Greece joined subsequently. Since we do not know how those currencies would have fluctuated had the euro not been introduced, we cannot tell what the value of the ECU or any CAP payments linked to it would have been.
§ Mrs. Ann WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the importance of discussion of European Union enlargement to the mid-term review of Agenda 2000 on Common Agricultural Policy reform; and if she will make a statement. [37921]
§ Mr. MorleyHer Majesty's Government believe that CAP reform is necessary, that preparation of enlargement should proceed in parallel with discussion of reform but that enlargement should not determine that reform.