Misspent farm aid paid back by EU

The EU grants farm aid to its 25 members, whose governments are responsible
for distributing and checking payments, and reclaims money that hasn’t been
spent according to the rules. The bloc last collected misspent funds in April,
when it ordered governments to return €128.2 million. „This is taxpayers’ money,
and we have to ensure effective controls on how it is used,” EU Agriculture
Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said in a statement in Brussels.

Greece, the country receiving the largest bill, must pay back €163.7
million because it failed to set up a register of olive growers, meaning crop
declarations couldn’t be checked. The EU is under pressure at the World Trade
Organization to reduce farm subsidies and make them less
trade-distorting.