The UK has incurred financial penalties amounting to €111.7 million (£86 m) for shortcomings in delivery of the Common Agricultural Policy, the European Commission revealed on Tuesday (26th February).  

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In all, the Commission announced that it plans to recover €414 million (£357 m) in mishandled CAP funds from the EU's 27 Member States. Under the so-called clearance of accounts procedure, Member States that are deemed to have breached EU rules through non-compliance or inadequate control of agricultural expenditure suffer financial penalties. The procedure covers a period of several years.

Of the funds being reclaimed by the EU, 26 percent will come from the UK. Commission officials said sanctions have been imposed on the UK in response to the country's failure to properly establish the Land Parcel Identification and Geographic Information Systems (LPIS-GIS), its "lenient sanctioning" of cross-compliance measures, inadequate control of minimum requirements on fertiliser and pesticide use and deficient agri-environment measures.

In total, 22 member states will have to pay money back. The UK's penalties are almost twice as large as those suffered by Italy, which received the second largest list of 'financial corrections,' costing around €66 million. Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Cyprus, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden will also be made to repay misspent funds.

The various infractions were discovered during random audits carried out by the Commission to verify funds are being distributed properly and that European states are complying with pan-European regulations.

The EU's executive arm declared on Tuesday that, "The Commission has the power to claw back funds in arrears if audits show that Member State management and control is not good enough to guarantee that EU funds have been spent properly. Formally speaking, because some of these amounts have already been recovered from the Member States the net financial impact of today's decision will be some €393 million."

The UK's correction payments cover the following areas and shortcomings:

• Area aid - correction proposed for England for weaknesses in LPIS-GIS, in processing of applications, in administrative cross checks and in on-the-spot controls
• Area aid - correction proposed for Northern Ireland for weaknesses in LPIS-GIS, on-the-spot checks, payments and sanctions
• Cross-compliance - correction proposed for lenient sanctioning system and for not adequately controlled minimum requirements on fertilisers, plant protection product use and one SMR
• Rural development - correction proposed for deficiencies in the Agri-environment measures
• Other corrections - correction proposed for deficiencies in debt recovery