To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will provide a breakdown of the UK's contribution to the EU for the last year for which figures are available. [78373]
[holding answer 23 March 1999]: The European Commission's report of 7 October 1998 called "Financing the European Union", a copy of which was deposited on 26 October (Batch list 121), contains Member States' payments into the EU budget from 1992–99, although the figures for 1998 and 1999 are estimates. The payments are listed by type; Traditional own resources (customs duties, agriculture duties, sugar levies less collection costs), VAT, GNP and the adjustment made to other Member States' contributions to fund the UK abatement. UK 1995–97 average contributions were:
| £million | Euro million | |
| Traditional Own Resources | 1,929.6 | 2,807.6 |
| VAT Own Resource | 3,700.7 | 5,384.5 |
| GNP Own Resource | 1,991.8 | 2,898.1 |
| Abatement | -1,574.4 | -2,290.7 |
| Total | 6,047.7 | 8,799.5 |
| The average net contribution (net of receipts) was: | 1,957.4 | 2,848 |