A total of 126.7 M€ of EU farm money unduly spent by Member States is claimed back as a result of a decision adopted on March 19th by the European Commission. The money returns to the Community 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 Member States have made correct use of the funds. Under Commission's latest decision funds will be recovered from Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Spain, France, United Kingdom, Greece, Italy and Slovenia. The most significant individual corrections are:

• 100.6 M€ charged to Denmark for weaknesses in remote sensing and controls of compliance with set-aside rules (in area aid scheme);
• 9.5 M€ charged to United Kingdom for risk analysis used improperly and insufficient verification of documents within export refunds aid scheme;
• 7.2 M€ charged to Belgium for insufficient number of laboratory tests of sugar within export refunds scheme;
• 2.4 M€ charged to Ireland for weaknesses in risk analysis, insufficient quality and quantity of physical checks within export refunds scheme;
• 2.3 M€ charged to France for failure to meet payment deadlines and absence of sanctions within food aid scheme;
• 1.7 M€ charged to Belgium for ineligible expenditure in fruits and vegetables scheme comprising environmental packaging and VAT;
• 1.5 M€ charged to Slovenia for deficiencies in key-controls concerning area aid payments;
• 1.3 M€ charged to Greece for insufficient controls and unreliable data on sugar export.

CAP unduly spent funds recovery scheme

The Member States have to ensure that their national paying agencies thoroughly check all claims before the aid is paid. The Member States have to have put in place an integrated administration and control system for most of the Community agricultural spending, sometimes using the most advanced techniques to check fields by aerial or satellite photography, and to cross-check claims in computer data bases. For expenditure not falling under this system, other types of controls apply.

Where, despite these efforts, the Commission finds that the control procedures in a Member State do not conform to the Community rules, it recovers the amount misspent from the Member State concerned. This recovery may include expenditure affected within a period of 24 months before the start of the recovery procedure.