Brussels, 09/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission's management of the integration of coupled support into the single payment scheme (SPS) has been only partially effective, according to a report by the Court of Auditors published on Wednesday 9 July. The audit showed that the Commission did not adequately monitor the calculation of payment entitlements. Failings were identified in the way the Commission carried out its compliance checks in the member states.
The Court's audit was carried out in the premises of the Commission, and in Greece, Spain, France, Italy and the Netherlands. These member states represent 90% of the amounts integrated into the SPS between 2010 and 2012. All of them had set in place the historic SPS model in 2005 or 2006.
In 2008, as part of the health check on the common agriculture policy (CAP), the Council decided to integrate into the SPS (single payment scheme) coupled support in sectors which had been excluded from this regime up to that point, or for which the member states had opted for partial decoupling, from 2010 to 2012. This covered certain area payments for major crops, sheep and goat premiums, slaughter premiums and support in the sectors of rice, wine, fruit and vegetables.
The member states integrated into the SPS a total amount of €4.2 billion previously available in the framework of aid.
As regards the inclusion of coupled support in the SPS, the member states had considerable leeway over the criteria on how the available amounts were to be divided up between the farmers. However, the Commission remains ultimately responsible for the coherence of the execution of the Union budget and for compliance with the general principles of EU legislation in the field of agriculture, the Court of Auditors reiterates. It points out that from 2015, the SPS will be replaced with a new basic payment regime which will include certain essential elements of the SPS. The member states will have the option to take account of the value of payment entitlements under the SPS for payments under the new regime until the financial year 2021.
The Court audited whether the Commission had effectively managed the integration of coupled support into the SPS. More specifically, it examined whether the Commission had adequately supervised and verified the calculation of payment entitlements in the member states, whether member states' legislation complied with the conditions and principles set out in EU legislation and whether the competent authorities had put up effective checks ensuring correct calculation and allocation of payment entitlements.
In conclusion, the Court takes the view that the Commission's management of the integration of coupled support into the SPS was only partially effective. It found that the Commission did not ensure that all of the criteria applied for the distribution of the available amounts were always consistent with EU principles, notably those of non-discrimination and proportionality. In this context, the integration of coupled support into the SPS was implemented in an inconsistent manner and for farmers in some sectors this resulted in windfall benefits. Furthermore, there were weaknesses in the way the Commission monitored the respect of applicable ceilings by the member states, checked their compliance with the applicable EU legislation and enforced the correction of errors.
Although the member states had, for the most part, correctly used the reference data of farmers, the Court found significant weaknesses in the correct application of the calculation rules, the respective ceilings and the use of the national reserve. The framework set up by the Commission also did not sufficiently clarify which checks member states have to carry out to ensure the correct calculation of payment entitlements, and member state control systems varied in quality. “This resulted in sometimes incorrectly calculated values of payment entitlements, and subsequent undue payments of SPS aid to farmers”, said the Court. Amongst other things, the Commission is invited to “enforce the correction of payment entitlements whose values have not been calculated in accordance with the applicable rules and recovery of unduly allocated payment entitlements and undue SPS payments, notably systematic errors”. (LC)