EU agricultural policy funds worth EUR180 million, unduly spent by Member-States, are being claimed back by the European Commission under the so-called clearance of accounts procedure.
As some of these amounts have already been recovered from the Member-States, financial impact of Monday's decision will be EUR169 million, the European Commission said in a press release. This money returns to the EU budget because of non-compliance with EU rules or inadequate control procedures on agricultural expenditure.
Member-States are responsible for paying out and checking expenditure under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and the Commission is required to ensure that they have made correct use of the funds.
Under this decision, funds will be recovered from 15 Member- States. They are: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Finland and the United Kingdom.
The most significant individual correction is EUR40.4 million charged for UK for weaknesses related to the Land Parcel Identification System - Geographical Information System (LPIS-GIS), to the on-the-spot checks and to the payments and sanctions in Scotland.
UK is also charged EUR18.6 million for deficiencies in the allocation of entitlements.
EUR39.2 million is charged for Poland for weaknesses related to the LPIS-GIS, administrative cross-checks, payments, application of sanctions, retro-active recoveries and the lateness of on-the-spot checks.
EUR11.5 million is charged for Denmark for deficiencies in the LPIS and in the on-the-spot controls.
Member-States are responsible for managing most CAP payments, mainly via their paying agencies. They are also in charge of controls, for example verifying farmers' claims for direct payments.
The Commission carries out over 100 audits every year, verifying that Member-State controls and responses to shortcomings are sufficient, and has the power to claw back funds in arrears if the audits show that Member-State management and control is not good enough to guarantee that EU funds have been spent properly.
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