Brussels claws back misspent millions

1 March 2000



Brussels claws back misspent millions

By Philip Clarke

ITALY and France have been singled out as the worst offenders as Brussels continues to claw back farm aid which it says has been misspent.

In total, some 275 million (168m) is being recovered as the EU Commission clamps down on lax controls in the use of taxpayers money.

And over two-thirds of this is attributed to just two member states.

France has to pay 99m (60m) for its casual approach to export refunds, with Italy charged 32m (20m) for the same reason.

Italy also has to pay back 39m (24m) for poor control of cereal intervention and another 8.3m (5m) for various late payments.

The UK is far from squeaky-clean, however, having the fifth worst record after Germany and Portugal.

Of the 21m (13m) misspent by the UK, 11.8m (7m) relates to livestock premia, 5.2m (3m) to export refunds and 2.4m (1.5m) to incorrect calculation of the arable area overshoot.

Farm commissioner Franz Fischler said it was member states job to manage farm spending.

He said the commission would clamp down hard on those who shirked that responsibility.

A further 500m (305m) is still being investigated.

Meanwhile, Brussels is taking the Netherlands to the European Court of Justice for its failure to limit water nitrate levels.

In particular, it says controls on livestock manure are insufficient and there is no clear limit on the fertilisation of different crops.