At last week's Council of Agriculture Ministers meeting a total package of £700 million was agreed to compensate EU beef producers for the effects of the BSE crisis. Of this fund I have succeeded in securing £70 million for Irish producers which will go a long way towards meeting the current and projected losses because of the crisis in 1996. The Council also agreed to the continuation of the deseasonalisation premium for 1997 which is worth £16 million, bringing the total compensatory package to £86 million.
Moneys disallowed by the European Commission in the clearance of accounts procedure must be credited by member states to the EAGGF Guarantee Section of the EU budget. They may be withheld to fund other schemes. Spain was not given permission to use a penalty imposed on them for non-application of the superlevy system to fund a scheme to alleviate the effects of drought there. The drought scheme referred to was agreed to on its merits, following discussion at the Council of Ministers.