The EU Energy and Environment
Sub-Committee has written to the agriculture Minister to
ask why over half of payments under a European support scheme are
made late.
The European Agricultural Fund for Rural
Development (EAFRD) finances rural development programmes across
the EU. The European Commission is bringing in a new Regulation
that will mean if a Member State is late in more than five per
cent of payments to recipients of the Fund, the Member State will
have the money they receive from the EU
reduced.
As part of their scrutiny of this Regulation,
the Sub-Committee asked Defra Minister MP how many of their
payments to recipients under this scheme are currently made late.
His response showed that over half (55.5 per cent) were made
after the deadline in the 2017 claim year which, if the new
Regulation were in force today, would result in a £70-75m
penalty.
Commenting, , Chair of the
Sub-Committee
“Given the large number of payments being made
after the deadline, the Committee have written back to the
Minister to ask for an explanation of why the figure is so high
and what action the Government is taking to speed up these
payments. We have also asked for clarity on the extent of late
payments in the different nations of the UK, and how any future
financial penalty for late payments that came from the EU would
be distributed amongst the four nations.”
Read the letter here.
