The EU Commission has reclaimed a total of €57 million (£45m) in misspent CAP funds from the member states.

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The 'clearance of accounts procedure' is a means of controlling how CAP money is spent in the EU. The Commission carries out over 100 spot checks and audits on member states every year, in order to ascertain whether agriculture policy funds are being spent appropriately.

Any misspent funds are claimed back by the Commission at regular intervals. The EU executive said on Thursday that, though almost €57m has been claimed back in this round, states' governments have already paid back a certain amount of the required total, so the actual financial impact of the decision will be €52 million (£41m).

The Commission said, "This money returns to the EU budget because of non-compliance with EU rules or inadequate control procedures on agricultural expenditure. Member States are responsible for paying out and checking expenditure under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and the Commission is required to ensure that Member States have made correct use of the funds."

15 Member States will be required to pay back funds in this round: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Latvia, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Sweden and the UK.

The UK has been charged €3.18m (£2.5m) for weaknesses associated with the Land Parcel Information Scheme (LPIS) and on-the-spot checks.

However, the UK's penalty is dwarfed by that of France; the French government will have to pay back over a third (35 percent) of the €57m total demanded by the Commission. The €20m (£15.9m) owed by France is for weaknesses related to the 'allocation of entitlements.'