TNAG-1324-FCO40-1736-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-debates-1984 — Page 190

future in the next few months, or it will start to rot

away, starved of the cash to keep running. That would

be a tragedy for Britain and for Europe. It must not

happen. But the Prime Minister has made clear that she

cannot consider recommending to Parliament an increase

in the resources available to the Community unless:

first, decisions are taken to control agricultural

and other expenditure;

second, a fair and lasting solution is achieved to

the problem of budgetary imbalances.

Both conditions are essential if we are to create a

sound basis for future Community development.

As

It is that finance

regards budgetary discipline, the case is clear. The

hard lesson must be learned in Europe, as it has been

learned in our domestic economies.

must determine expenditure, and not the other way

about. Without strict discipline, policies are

demand-driven. That is no way to run a rail-road.

We can see the dangers in the Common Agricultural

Policy. Farm spending has soared out of control, up

almost 30% last year. The milk regime alone costs more

than £1 million a working hour to finance. The

surpluses being produced are a real waste of

resources, bad for international trading relations, and

2