Brussels, 02/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is claiming back €230 million unduly spent by member states under the common agricultural policy (CAP). The financial impact of the decision taken on Thursday 2 May will be some €227 million, given that some amounts have already been recovered. This money must return to the EU budget because of non-compliance with EU rules.
The decision in question relates to the recovery of funds from 14 member states - Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain and the United Kingdom. The main individual financial corrections are: €83.6 million charged to Greece for non-compliant reduction of the minimum yield for dried grapes, €79.9 million charged to Poland for deficiencies in the check of the initial application and in the approval of the business plan for the semi-subsistence farms measure, €24.0 million (financial impact: €23.9 million) charged to Greece for weaknesses in flock registers and on-the-spot checks for animal premiums, and €10.3 million charged to the UK for weakness in identification of animals and in on-the-spot checks for the animal premiums. (LC/transl.jl)