Die Welt about the ECA report or how to conjure up a lie from the truth
Do you know what are IACS and LRS for?
The integrated administration and control system is a condition for the direct payments disbursement. Only application for subsidy that complies with EU regulation can count on favourable verdict of the paying agency and consecutive payments. In order to make this happen, the IACS keeps an eye on it. Before their accession to the EU, the representatives of ten new countries including the Slovak republic have been already informed that "no IACS, no payments".
This computer system administratively checks each application, which has been already, controlled by "four eyes", it means by 2 employees of the paying agency if it complies with all the requirements of the European Community legislation. IACS detect and requires amendment of all applications that are incorrectly filled or not fully documented. The agency informs the farmer in order to rectify the errors. This system admits those applications only after the elimination of all shortcomings.
Cross-compliance checks
All this has to be accomplished by the integrated administration and control system before any payment has to be made; and even though, no direct payments are approved. They have to pass cross-compliance checks where each application is criss-cross compared with other ones and also with the registry of agricultural plots LPIS to exclude eventual errors in the area declaration. Once more each irregularity is defined.
The paying agency has to address the farmer again on the application in which the IACS has detected errors to express his opinion. After the registration of the rectified or confirmed data a second cross-compliance is carried out - and third …until all the shortcomings has been relieved.
The shortcomings are not sanctioned by IACS
Instead they are moved ahead for a risk analysis by which the agency spots the field for the on- the-spot controls. Controllers by using GPS devices walk around the whole parcel and with help of satellite find out the real status and the measurement of the stated area.
Via satellite a LRS (Land Remote Sensing) is carried out, in which repeated satellite or aerial shots of the chosen area during different stages of the vegetal period are evaluated - in order to clearly show how and what the farmer cultivates on his field.
Control before the payments approval
Both IACS and LRS help determine the eligibility of the applications for payments. The agency issues its decision on the direct payments only once the on-the-spot controls have been carried out and after their results have been registered into the IACS and after consecutive cross-compliances. Only application for subsidy that was several times checked under EU regulation can count on a favourable verdict of the paying agency and consecutive payments. Scandalised report of the European Court of Auditors
The German newspaper Die Welt published on the 20 March 2007 an article on the European subventions under the title of " Farmers get illegal billions" by Christophe B. Schilt. A short translation has been published shortly after by the press agency of the Slovak republic under the title: "Farmers in the EU get illegally up to 40% subventions yearly". It said that this staggering proportion of illegally disbursed direct payments was announced by the German newspaper Die Welt in reference to the report of the Community control office, European Court of Auditors (ECA) 2005. It mentioned that the ECA checked up to 345 696 approved applications from which 138 308 were incorret and while agrarian sector had an amount of 48.47 billion of euros for direct payments in 2005, i.e. 1.611 billion SK; almost 20 billions euros get into hands they didn't belong to.
Let's have a look at the report of the European court of Auditors THE ANNUAL REPORT ON THE BUDGETARY IMPLEMENTATION (2006/C 263/01) 31. 10. 2006 EN Official journal of the European Union C 263/5.
The art of misinterpretation or how to conjure with facts
The ECA report with 263 pages analyses the status of the European Community management. You can also find it in this page:
http://eca.europa.eu/auditreports/annual_reports/docs/2005/ra05_en.pdf.
In the last table row at page 83 we really find in the column "applications checked" the total number of 345 696 and in the column "applications with errors" 138 308. But herewith ends whole similarity to the Die Welt article.
What is this all about?
The whole secret of this public outcry is ignoring the title of the "cited" table: Table 5.2- Area Aid, forage areas and other crops (and now it comes:- Results of IACS field inspections and remote sensing in 2004 (i.e in the year in which applications are submitted-before payments are made!) relating to claims paid in 2005. This title unambiguously predicates that it concerns the administration and cross-compliance applications on direct payments in IACS as well as the on-the-spot checks (DPZ). If you still have any doubt, under the table the data source is mentioned: IACS statistics submitted by Member States to DG AGRI. In any circumstances not by ECA controllers as mentioned by Die Welt.
The public outcry will not take place
Dear Sir Christoph B. Schilt is wrong if he writes that the European Court of Auditors had checked over 345 696 approved applications. The truth is that 345 696 applications were checked by the agencies of each EU state - before the approval of payments. They "ironed out" from this amount of checked applications 138 308 errors - already before the payment of subventions.
Autor: Olga Čelková, Agricultural Paying Agency, Slovakia
Translation: Mounia Hazuchová, Agricultural Paying Agency, Slovakia
