Italy pays back part of milk fine

THE European Commission said this week it has collected only €315,000 out of €680 million owed by Italy due to its farmers exceeding milk production quotas over seven years.

Italy — one of the few EU countries likely to fill its milk quota this year — is usually the main quota offender, and has often complained that its EU milk quota was set too low. In 2003, Rome and Brussels agreed that Italian dairy farmers could pay fines accumulated between 1995 and 2002 in annual interest-free instalments over 14 years. The arrangement is subject to strict conditions. For example, if a farmer fails to make one annual payment, he forgoes the right to special financial treatment and is obliged to pay his entire amount, plus interest.

At the start of the agreed repayment period, around 23,500 Italian milk producers owed €1,025 billion to the EU.