Brussels, 28/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 28 April the European Commission decided to ask ten Member States (Belgium, Germany, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom) to reimburse a total of € 128.2 million corresponding to the amounts incorrectly spent by these countries in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Elsewhere, due to the rulings by the European Court of the Justice, the Commission is expected to cancel three decisions for the recovery of agricultural funds to Greece (€ 9.9 million on spending for public storage and almost € 1 million for other spending in the fruit and vegetables sector). The main financial corrections are as follows:
Italy: € 30.02 million for absence of sanctions and deficient controls in the fruit and vegetables and € 30.94 millions for delays in payment in several sectors.
France: € 32.07 millions for the over-evaluation of compensatory aid, absence of sanctions and non-respect of the criteria for recognising producer organisations in the banana sector and € 7.14 million for deficiencies in controlling the public storage of beef meat.
Belgium: € 5.85 million for insufficient controls on aid to patisserie butter.
Portugal: € 3.14 million for deficiencies in controls that failed to detect irregular practices in the flax sector.
Spain: € 2.76 million for bad control on public storage of beef meat.