PARIS: The European Commission is withholding €1.1 billion of CAP repayments from France over the misspending of agricultural subsidies between 2008 and 2012, EurActiv France reported. France will not be reimbursed for a portion of the European subsidies it distributed to farmers between 2008 and 2012.
The European Commission has warned that a clearance of EU accounts will leave the French government €1.1 billion out of pocket.The sum has already been distributed to French farmers in the form of subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), but the European executive has deemed the payments irregular and refused to cover all the costs.
A statement from the French Ministry of Agriculture revealed that the Commission had originally claimed a corrective payment of €3.5 billion, but that the sum had been divided by three after months of negotiations.The correction is due to inconsistencies or errors in the agricultural areas declared by the country.
