HC Deb 05 March 2002 vol 381 cc214-5W
Andrew George

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the(a) timetable and (b) practical requirements of delivering CAP payments to British farmers in euros. [36962]

Mr. Morley

[holding answer 25 February 2002]: The Government are committed to providing farmers with the option of receiving grant and subsidy payments in euro at the earliest practical opportunity.

To operate a manual system, even to cope with modest demand, would be inefficient. IT systems are therefore being developed in the Rural Payments Agency and in the devolved Administrations to deliver such a service. The work has to be dovetailed with other developments and is therefore not expected to be complete before 2004.

Once a system for direct payments in euro is in place, it is likely that farmers would be asked to commit three months in advance and to sign up for a minimum of a year.

Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at which European Council meeting the decision was taken to replace the ECU as the common currency for the Common Agricultural Policy with the euro; which UK Ministers attended; what reasons underlay the decision; and what assessment she has made of the financial consequences of the EU payment to UK agriculture. [37643]

Mr. Morley

On 9 June 1997 the UK Parliament lifted its long-standing scrutiny reserve on the regulations under article 235 (now article 308) of the treaty providing the legal basis for the introduction and use of the euro. This allowed the text to be adopted formally by the Council in Luxembourg on 17 June. My right hon. Friends the Deputy Prime Minister and the Member for Edinburgh, East and Musselburgh (Dr. Strang) represented the UK. These provisions applied to all transactions involving the ECU, including those relating to the Common Agricultural Policy. The introduction of the euro was in accordance with the procedure and timetable set out in the treaty. It is not possible to assess the financial consequences to UK agriculture of the replacement of the ECU with the euro, because we cannot tell how the currencies from which the value of the ECU was calculated would have fluctuated had the euro not been introduced.

Mr. Laurence Robertson

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural ffairs (1) how much of the CAP underspend related to arable farming in each of the last five years for which figures are available; [39284]

(2) how much of the CAP underspend has been given back to the UK in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement; [39285]

(3) what representations she has made to the EU about the CAP underspend; and if she will make a statement. [39283]

Mr. Morley

[holding answer 28 February 2002]: Expenditure on the Common Agricultural Policy is made in accordance with the EU regulations. Actual CAP expenditure may be higher or lower than forecast at the beginning of each budgetary year, due to the market situation, exchange rate fluctuations, or exceptional items. Surplus from one year's EC Budget is returned to member states in the following year's Budget by means of a reduction of the amount to be financed from own resources. This has the effect of reducing the amount each member state is required to pay from GNP-based resource. Moneys returned in this way are not broken down by category and information is not therefore available for specific items of expenditure. So we have made no representations on this matter.