The Scottish government will miss tomorrow’s deadline for completing farm subsidy payments, the country’s rural economy secretary has confirmed.
Last week Scottish ministers called for this week’s deadline for Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments to be extended to 15 October, with first minister Nicola Sturgeon apologising to farmers for failures in Scotland’s subsidy payment system.
With talks about potential EU penalties for the delays ongoing, Scotland’s rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing told the Scottish Parliament that he expected only 90 per cent of payments to be made on time.
The rest of the payments would be made “fairly shortly thereafter”, he announced at a committee meeting in Holyrood yesterday.
According to Ewing, 82 per cent of Pillar One payments have been distributed so far, with 90 per cent due for completion by the deadline on Friday (30 June).
The Scottish government has approached the European Commission about extending the deadline, BBC News reported, something which also happened in 2016 following issues with the government’s new IT system.
According to BBC News, the Scottish government has been warned it could face fines of up to £60m for the delays.
