Single Farm Payment deficiencies slammed by main EU auditing body

THE European Court of Auditors has criticised deficiencies in the Single Farm Payment (SFP) which it says sees a lot of money being given to inactive “absentee farmers”.

The EU’s main auditing body said the SFP needed to be revised to ensure the money was delivered to those working the land, which might mean the tenants rather than inactive non-farming landowners.

The Court criticised the way the scheme’s beneficiaries are defined as “permitted persons or entities not, or only marginally, engaged in an agricultural activity to benefit from SPS payments”.

With the EU working on the reform of the present CAP, this criticism looks sure to be repeated in future reform debates.

The report argues that the 17 EU countries applying the SPS use about 20 different variants of the payment scheme, making it too complex. The report stated a preference for the SAPS supports used by the EU’s ten latest entrant member states, including the Eastern bloc, as being better suited to the EU agri market.