6. The revenue raised under these arrangements finances the commo agricultural policy, the administrative costs of European institutions, the European Social Fund (to promote the employment and mobility of workers), research and investment through the European Atomic Energy Community, the Community's Food Aid Programme for overseas, and refunds to member states to cover the cost (assumed to be 10 per cent) of collecting the levies and customs duties which are paid to the Community. The Community's budget for this expenditure in 1971 totals £1,273 million, made up as follows:
European Agricultural Fund
Community administrative costs
...
Repayment to member states to cover costs of
collecting levies and duties
Euratom research and investment
European Social Fund ...
Food Aid
...
1.
£ million
1,096
62
56
28
23
8
1,273
7. The reason for the high proportion spent on agricultural support is partly historical and partly because of the role which agriculture plays in the economies of the Six. In all the Community countries this is larger than in Britain and a larger proportion of their manpower work on the land. When the Community was set up it was felt necessary not only to provide opportunities for Community industries by progressively removing the tariff barriers within the Community, but also to provide a common policy in the field of agriculture which was politically and economically so important for each of the Six.
8. As the Community develops there will be other purposes for which Community funds will be spent, such as technological, industrial and regional policies, from which, unlike agriculture, Britain could expect to receive back money commensurate with her contribution to the Community's budget.
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