Brussels, 31/07/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 28 July, France provided some useful clarifications on the decision of the European Commission asking it to pay back 77 million EUR in expenditure deemed irregular in the arable crops sector (EUROPE 9241). The French Ministry of Agriculture has come out of 10 years of proceedings with its financial correction ending up being "divided by four". The ministry acknowledges that, during the implementation of the reform in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of 1992, France opted for certain "irregular procedures" concerning the payment of aid to non-eligible land in order to support production in difficulty. At the time, it was decided: - to help non-eligible land in wet areas; - to apply the irrigated yield to certain parcels of land; - to pay aid destined for arable crops to land planted with vines on 31 December 1991, the date chosen to define eligible areas for the new direct aid to start in 1993. During negotiations with the Commission, which took place over a period of 10 years, "France has never challenged the facts as regard the irrigated yield and the areas planted with vine and it has produced convincing arguments to reduce the European assessment for the wet areas", explains a press release issued by the Ministry (our translation), which concluded that the financial correction, set at 77 million EUR, "has thus been divided by four". France notes that the 2003 CAP reform put an end to the previous system of eligibility, which is behind all of these problems.