Italy and Greece have been ordered to repay €75.97m (US$88.91m) and €57.29m of farm handouts respectively to the EU because, according to the European Commission, the money has been “misspent.”
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Brussels criticises Italy for shortcomings in its secondary financial controls regarding the arable crops sector. It said on-the-spot checks were inadequate, ineligible amounts had not been recovered “and the concept of a false declaration had not been adequately applied.”
In Greece, there was “unsound management and lack of key controls in the arable crops sector,” the Commission said. Discrepancies existed between payment declarations and eligible payments in that country, it added.
