EAGGF-Guarantee Section. 26th Financial Report 1996

The rapporteur on the 26th financial report concerning the European Agriculture Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) - Guarantee Section (1996 financial year), Mr Klaus REHDER, denounces the fact that the bewildering array of application procedures for agricultural aid is an open invitation to abuse and calls for a simplification of the rules as part of the ?Agenda 2000? reforms. The rapporteur also stressed that the frequency and thoroughness of checks differ substantially from Member State to Member State. He deplored the fact that breaches of Community law are not always properly punished. Taking the view that abuse results from deliberate misuse of EAGGF funding, a lack of control by Member States and inadequate control systems in the Member States, the rapporteur calls for considerable improvements in the Community?s own instruments of control and procedures for recovery of undue payments. The rapporteur also referred to criticisms of the imbalance in the present system of Community aid from a social point of view: 80?% of funds only benefit 20?% of farmers (among the better off) and called for the promotion of CAP reforms which helped to support employment in the European Union.�