asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the own resources decision made at Fontainebleau makes provision for possible intergovernmental agreements to provide additional sums in the event of the expenditure of the European Economic Community exceeding the new proposed limits; and if he will make a statement.

The new own resources decision, like the existing own resources decision, makes no provision for additional sums to be made available in the event of the VAT ceiling being reached but neither does it exclude them. Sums provided under intergovernmental agreements are not own resources.