European Communities (Finance) Bill

My right hon. Friend is absolutely correct: France is a net contributor, as is this country. As I have just said, France's contributions will grow twice as fast in this financial perspective—as, incidentally, will Italy's. That is why I come back to the point that the agreement is good for this country. Let me give an indication of the net contributions that we will make. Table B11 of the pre-Budget report document shows that the estimates for the net expenditure transfers to EC institutions are £5.6 billion for 2007-08, £5.5 billion for 2008-09 and £5.7 billion for 2009-10.