Romania has been told to tighten controls in its farm payment systems or face a severe cut in it subsdies next year from the EU. The European Commission said that independent auditors Deloitte had found 'major deficiencies in the software module designed to ensure that payments are made correctly.'
The Commission said that Romania could lose about €180m in subsidies next yar if it failed to correct problems in its software systems. It delivered the warning amid persistent complaints from some of the EU's western European members that Romania was not fully prepared for the challenges of EU membership when it became a member last January.
The financial stakes are high because Romania is due to recive €443m in direct payments next year, part of a grand total of €4.3bn between now and the end of 2013. Agriculture accounts for about 40 per cent of employment.
6 comments:
Agriculture accounts for 40% of employment in Romania.
Any funds should be directed at
education, science, technologies
etc., so as to move as many people
out of agriculture as possible.
If the EU decides to replicate the CAP in Romania, the EU as an economic region in the world will fall behind.
40% being subsidised is not sustainable.
Education, training, science,
techologies, industries bring add
to economies.
Agricultural subsidies involves
taking money from producive and real areas of the economy such as pharmaceuticals, electronics etc.
so as to insulate farmers from the
real world.
With time, high technology economies will become the new super powers.
Why are farmers receiving payments for compensation for supposed price drops that have never happened? This is profiteering at the expense of European taxpayers.
It is not just Romania where there are problems, auditors have found fraud occuring in the Western 15, one case was of a farmer making a claim, a family member making a claim, a tranfer of the farm and a further increase, this is a scandal. How many are not found out?
The Court of Auditors have never signed off on the CAP accounts, they refused.
If this happened in a private company, the shareholders would insist on resignations.
Why not when it is taxpayers money?
The agricultural commission does not have the credibility to warn Romania. The agricultural commission is a very secretive department. There needs to be full disclosure of the CAP.
Lars Hoelgaard, the deputy director general of the EU agricultural section has said that it is not possible to justify payments to farmers when food prices are increasing.
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