A decision adopted by the European Commission this past week will see a total of €578.5m of farm money claimed back from EU member states, funds returned to the EC's budget as a result of non-compliance with regulations or inadequate control procedures on agricultural expenditure.
Member states in the EU bloc are responsible for paying out and checking expenditure under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and the EC is required to ensure that member states have made correct use of their funds.
Under the decision, funds will be recovered from a number of countries, including Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK.
According to the EC, the UK government has been asked to repay €3.8m of agricultural money due to late payments and overshooting financial limits in 2009, while the Netherlands has been charged €28.9m for the absence of a key control concerning payment of minimum price for producers between 2003-2008.
Also charged for late payments and overspending are Spain (€4.8m), Germany (€2m), Greece (€3.8m) and Portugal (€0.5m), among others.
'We are working very hard to achieve the best possible control of farm spending in order to verify that taxpayers' money is not being misspent,' said Dacian Ciolos, commissioner for agriculture and rural development.
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