1996 budget: section III

The purpose of the rectifying letter to the preliminary draft budget for 1996 is as follows: -to take account of the budgetary implications of the 'Agriculture' Council's decision of 22 June 1995; - to take account of the budgetary implications of the decision to bring forward payment of the second advance of the premium for sheep and goats (given the fall in market prices); - to revise the level of the agricultural guideline following the 'Agriculture' Council's decision of June 1995. Overall these measures will give rise to a lower estimated expenditure under the 1996 budget of ECU 841 m, broken down as follows: .price package: -ECU 588 m .reform of the cotton sector: +ECU 32 m .agri-monetary decision: +ECU 37 m .advance payment of the sheep premium: -ECU 322 m. The agricultural guideline will have to be reviewed: the amount will increase by ECU 31 m to ECU 40.828 m. In conclusion, the rectifying letter gives rise to estimated expenditure of ECU 18 m more than the agricultural guideline, as against ECU 890 m for the PDB. This produces a fall of ECU 872 m in flat-rate reductions made in the PDB in order to bring appropriations back to the guideline level.�