Brussels, 01/10/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Court of Auditors doubts the effectiveness of the extensification of premium and payments schemes in the beef and veal sector. The Extensification Premium (EPS) was introduced in 1992(revised during the 199 reforms) to encourage beef production in an extensive and environmentally sustainable manner, to reduce intensive production. In its Special Report No 5/2002 released on Monday, the Court points out paradoxically that the system does not provide an incentive to intensive farmers to switch to more sustainable and extensive production methods or supplementary extensive agricultural production techniques. The audit also reveals that the implementation of this system has turned out to be "problematic" in all the Member States visited, as regards inspection procedures, with the bovine identification and registration systems suffering from diverse deficiencies and that some farmers received extensification aid without even having requested it.
The Court recommends that the Commission assesses the effectiveness of this system and its consistency with other schemes such as the agri-environmental and compensatory schemes. The Commission is called on to ensure that regulations should be amended to address risk assessment and inspection weaknesses. Spending on this scheme has risen to EUR 913.8 million for the Community budget in 200; 80% of expenditure benefited France, followed by the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain.