New states’ farmers could lose funding

The Commission is drawing up plans to withhold up to a quarter of funds for farmers and rural areas in Romania and Bulgaria if the two countries fail to correct problems with their paying agencies.

The Commission is expected to recommend on 26 September that the two countries should join the EU in January next year but wants to ensure that they continue to improve administrative structures to process EU funds.

The two countries are due to receive around €16 billion in 2007-13 in direct aid to farmers and help for rural areas, of which two-thirds will go to Romania.

Aid will be phased in gradually so in the first year Romanian and Bulgarian farmers are only entitled to 25% of the level of direct payments that farmers in the EU15 will receive.

Under the plan, to be approved the same day that the Commission makes its recommendation on an entry date, Romania and Bulgaria will have to submit a report on the functioning of their payment agencies and the Integrated Administration and Control System, used to check farmers’ claims, based on an independent audit three months after they join.

The Commission is drawing up plans to withhold up to a quarter of funds for farmers and rural areas in Romania and Bulgaria if the two countries fail to correct problems with their paying agencies.

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