European Commission
Press release
Brussels, 7 September 2012
Commission to recover €215 million of CAP expenditure from the Member States
A total of €215 million of EU agricultural policy funds unduly spent by Member States is being claimed back by the European Commission today under the so-called clearance of accounts procedure. However, because some of these amounts have already been recovered from the Member States and the Commission is reimbursing Spain following a Court ruling on a previous disallowance decision, the net financial impact of today's decision will be some €94 million. 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 Member States have made correct use of the funds.
Main financial corrections
Under this latest decision, funds will be recovered from Germany, Ireland, Greece, France, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Austria, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The most significant individual corrections are:
€ 89.4 million (financial impact1 : €88.9 million) charged to Portugal for weaknesses in the LPIS-GIS and for late on-the-spot controls;
€ 34.5 million (financial impact1 : €32.2 million) charged to the UK for weaknesses in the LPIS-GIS, deficiencies in the on-the-spot checks;
€ 28.0 million (financial impact1 : €27.9 million) charged to Italy for deficiencies in calculation of entitlements and for deficiencies in integration of the olive oil sector into SPS;
€ 20.4 million charged to Sweden for the deficiencies in the LPIS in respect of financial years 2009 for area-aids expenditure, including area-based Rural Development measures.
Following last year's European Court judgement (C-24/11P) against a previous Commission decision to recover olive oil funds, Spain will be reimbursed €110.7m.
Background
Member States are responsible for managing most CAP payments, mainly via their paying agencies. They are also in charge of controls, for example verifying the farmer's 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 responses are not good enough to guarantee that EU funds have been spent properly.
For details on how the clearance of annual accounts system works, see MEMO/12/109 and the factsheet "Managing the agriculture budget wisely", available on the internet at: http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/fin/clearance/factsheet_en.pdf.
Details of the individual corrections, by Member State and by sector, are given in the tables attached (annexes I and II).
Annex I : Clearance of accounts of EAGF and EAFRD
Decision 39: Corrections by Member state (In Million €)
Sector and reason for correction | Amount of correction | Amount of financial impact of the correction2 |
Austria |
| |
Area aids - correction proposed for deficiencies in the allocation of the entitlements | 1.304 | 1.304 |
Other corrections - correction proposed for the errors discovered in the framework of financial clearance of accounts for financial year 2010 | 0.144 | 0.144 |
France |
| |
Intervention storage and other market measures - correction proposed for ineligible expenditure and unclaimed due interest | 0.024 | 0.024 |
Germany | ||
Other corrections - correction proposed for the errors in the EAGF population discovered in the framework of financial clearance of accounts for financial year 2007 | 0.204 | 0.204 |
Other corrections - correction proposed for the errors in the EAGF and EAFRD population discovered in the framework of financial clearance of accounts for financial year 2008 | 2.647 | 2.647 |
Other corrections - correction proposed for the errors discovered in the framework of financial clearance of accounts for financial year 2008 | 0.027 | 0.027 |
Greece |
| |
Milk products - correction proposed for ineligible expenditures over the ceiling | 0.016 | 0.016 |
Hungary |
| ||||
Other corrections - correction proposed for exceeding of financial ceiling discovered in the framework of financial clearance of accounts for financial year 2010 | 1.515 | 1.515 | |||
Rural development - correction proposed for shortcoming in the sanction system | 0.196 | 0.196 | |||
Ireland |
| ||||
Rural development – correction proposed for lack of agri-environment risk criteria in the sample selection and lack of verification of the livestock density on the spot | 2.766 | 2.766 | |||
Rural development - correction proposed for weaknesses in traceability of the carried out on-the-spot checks, lack of the farm records at parcels level and lack of measurement of the parcels during the on-the-spot checks | 7.622 | 7.622 | |||
Italy |
| ||||
Area aids - correction proposed for deficiencies in calculation of entitlements and for deficiencies in integration of the olive oil sector into SPS | 28.020 | 27.927 | |||
Intervention storage and other market measures - correction proposed for late payments and weaknesses in the controls of the promotional measures | 2.830 | 2.830 | |||
Luxembourg | |||||
Other corrections - correction proposed for exceeding of financial ceiling | 0.002 | 0 | |||
Latvia | |||||
Export refunds - correction proposed with regard to insufficient on-the-spot controls | 0.017 | 0.017 | |||
Portugal |
| |
Area aids - correction proposed for late on-the-spot controls and for weaknesses of LPIS-GIS | 89.382 | 88.902 |
Late payments - correction proposed for failure to meet payment deadlines and for exceeding of ceilings | 3.223 | 0 |
Rural development – correction proposed with regard to delays in carrying out on-the-spot controls and for payments before on-the-spot checks | 4.627 | 4.627 |
Romania | ||
Late Payments - correction proposed for failure to meet payment deadlines | 3.840 | 0.000 |
Spain | ||
Intervention storage and other market measure – correction proposed for deficiencies in the promotional measures | 2.234 | 2.234 |
Cross-compliance - correction proposed with regard to a lack of effective control of the Statutory Management Requirements | 0.178 | 0.178 |
Olive oil and other oils and fats - reimbursement following judgement by the European Court of Justice in case C-24/11P | reimbursement of 110.755 | reimbursement of 110.755 |
Rural development – correction proposed with regard to deficiencies in carrying out on-the-spot controls | 2.244 | 2.244 |
Other corrections – correction proposed for the known errors in EAFRD population | 0.003 | 0.003 |
Other corrections – correction proposed for exceeding of financial ceilings | 0.093 | 0.093 |
Sweden | ||
Area aid - correction proposed for the deficiencies in the LPIS in respect of financial years 2009 for area-aids expenditure, including area-based Rural Development measures | 20.356 | 20.356 |
Area aid - correction proposed for incorrect allocation of payment entitlements | 1.955 | 1.955 |
The United Kingdom | ||
Area aid - correction proposed for weaknesses in the LPIS-GIS, deficiencies in the on-the-spot checks and the erroneous application of the provisions on sanctions | 34.522 | 32.153 |
Area aid - correction proposed for weaknesses in the calculation of the entitlements | 5.658 | 4.690 |
TOTAL | 104.896 | 93.920 |
Annex II : Clearance of accounts of EAGF and EAFRD
Decision 39: Corrections by Sector (In Million €)
Sector | Amount of correction | Amount of financial impact of the correction3 |
|
|
|
Export refunds | 0.017 | 0.017 |
|
|
|
Milk products | 0.016 | 0.016 |
|
|
|
Intervention storage and other market measures | 5.088 | 5.088 |
Area aid | 181.199 | 177.288 |
Cross-compliance | 0.178 | 0.178 |
Olive oil and other oils and fats | reimbursement of 110.755 | reimbursement of 110.755 |
Rural Development | 17.455 | 17.455 |
Late payments | 7.063 | 0.00 |
|
|
|
Other corrections | 4.635 | 4.633 |
|
|
|
TOTAL | 104.896 | 93.920 |
The financial impact is lower due to amounts already withheld
Financial impact of the correction is taking into account the previous overlapping corrections and amounts already recovered by the European Commission
Financial impact of the correction is taking into account the previous overlapping corrections and amounts already recovered by the European Commission
