Written question asked by Lord Brady of Altrincham (Conservative) on Thursday, 21 July 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 10 October 2005. It was answered by Ivan Lewis (Labour) on Monday, 10 October 2005 on behalf of the Treasury.

EU Budget

Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his Department's forecasts are for the (a) UK rebate and the (b) net UK contribution to the EU under (i) the original Commission proposal for the next budget period and (ii) the Luxembourg Presidency proposal for the next budget period.

Answer: As the Prime Minister pointed out in his statement to the House on 20 June 2005, Official Report, columns 523–25, the Luxembourg Presidency proposal would have cost the UK €25 billion over the period of the next Financial Perspective. This estimate was calculated on the basis of European Commission figures. The Government's most recent forecast of the UK abatement and net contributions to the EC Budget, covering the period to 2007–08, is given in Table 3.2 (page 15) of the annual ““European Community Finances”” White Paper (Cm 6580) published on 23 June 2005. These forecasts are based on the current Financial Perspective, which runs to December 2006. For the period from January 2007, we simply up-rate the present arrangements to allow for inflation for public expenditure planning purposes. This in no way implies any assumption by the Government as to what the outcome of the ongoing Financial Perspective negotiations might be.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 15738; 437 c288-9W;437 c282W
Session: 2005-06
Related items: European Council
Monday, 20 June 2005
Parliamentary proceedings
House of Commons
Subjects: Contributions EU budget