The European Commission has ordered 18 EU member states to collectively repay EUR214.6m (US$312m) in misspent food production funding.
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France owes EUR71m for weak on-the-spot checks regarding environmental and animal welfare standards – in place to ensure ‘cross compliance’ commitments made by producers – are followed.
Spain owes EUR31.7m for incorrectly applying olive oil production rules. Other affected countries included the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic.
Given agriculture consumes around 40% of the EU’s budget, agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said: “The Commission is keeping up the pressure to ensure the best possible controls over how this money is spent.”
