Jennifer Rankin is reporting for the European Voice online that the European Commission has announced that €214.6 million in farm aid that was misspent must be repaid. This comes after the completion of the latest European Union audit of agricultural spending.“A total of 18 EU member states are being asked to repay money received under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), either for breaching the rules or for failing to ensure adequate controls over how the money was spent.”
Of course France has the biggest repayment to make. Their total is roughly €71 million due to weak “on-the-spot checks of its farmers and failure to apply the rules on ‘cross-compliance', which make eligibility for farm payments dependent on meeting environmental and animal welfare standards.” At the low end of the scale is Luxembourg, which only has to repay some €4,000 for incorrect calculations.
This is not the first time the European Commission has ordered repayments following agricultural policy violations, but Rankin reports that the problem is widespread and this will likely not be the last time such repayment requests are made. “Traditionally, the worst offenders have been the Mediterranean countries of the EU15. In 1999-2007, EU member states had to repay €4.1 billion to the Commission. Greece repaid €970m, while Italy, Spain and France repaid sums ranging from €820m to €904m.”
If a member state disagrees with the decision they can appeal the issue to the European Court of First Instance. Half the EU budget for Common Agricultural Policy is spent clamping down on rogue payments that should not have been made. The EU promises to stay on the case. As “Mariann Fischer Boel, the European commissioner for agriculture, said: ‘The Commission is keeping up the pressure to ensure the best possible controls over how this money is spent. The system is working better than ever and we will continue to improve things.’”
To read the Rankin story click here.
Posted: 09/29/09
