Rural Development: The Verification of Agri-Environment Expenditure
European Court of Auditors, 2005
Background
- agri-environmental programs under the second pillar are difficult to monitor, but effective monitoring is essential to obtain environmental benefits
Findings
- the Commission has only partially ensured verifiability before approving agri-environmental programs and it has not sufficiently verified the correct functioning of control systems in the Member States
- controls in the member states are deficient: ‘sub-measures are checked outside of the period of undertaking or at inopportune moments’, ‘checks are largely dependent on the self-declaration of beneficiaries which are difficult to corroborate’, ‘reliance is placed on inconclusive visual checks’ and ‘detailed instructions are not always set out for inspectors, who often rely on their own knowledge or experience to form an opinion. There is no clear baseline with which to compare performance’
Comment
- These problems still persist, and they are not only a question of technical monitoring skills but also of political will (with farm ministries avoiding conflict with farmers over strict controls). This shows the need to strengthen the hand of the European Commission in controlling member states’ agricultural policies – from design to implementation.
Read more: