EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 12.9.2022

SWD(2022) 281 final

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT

Accompanying the document

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

15th FINANCIAL REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL ON THE EUROPEAN AGRICULTURAL GUARANTEE FUND













2021 FINANCIAL YEAR

{COM(2022) 449 final}

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.BUDGET PROCEDURE

1.1.Financial Framework 2021-2027

1.2.Initial Draft Budget 2021 and Amending Letter 1/2021

1.3.Adoption of the 2021 budget

1.4.Revenue assigned to the EAGF

2.CASH POSITION AND MANAGEMENT OF APPROPRIATIONS

2.1.Management of appropriations

2.1.1.Appropriations available for the 2021 financial year

2.1.2.Expenditure section of the EU budget in relation to EAGF

2.1.3.Assigned revenue section of the EU budget in relation to EAGF

2.1.4.Budget execution of appropriations available for the 2021 financial year

2.1.5.Assigned revenue received under shared management

2.1.6.Budget execution - Expenditure under shared management

2.1.7.Budget execution of voted appropriations - Expenditure under direct management made by the Commission

2.1.8.Budget execution - Expenditure under direct management made by the Commission - Automatic carry-over from 2020

2.2.Monthly payments

2.2.1.Monthly payments to Member States under shared management

2.2.1.1.Monthly payments - introduction

2.2.1.2.Decisions on monthly payments

2.2.1.3.Reductions of monthly payments

2.2.2.Direct management expenditure by the Commission

3.THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 2021 EAGF BUDGET

3.1.The uptake of the EAGF appropriations

3.2.Comments on the budget implementation

3.2.1.Article 08 02 03: Market-related expenditure outside the CAP Strategic Plans

3.2.1.1.Introduction

3.2.1.2.Item 08 02 03 01: POSEI and Smaller Aegan Islands (excluding direct payments)

3.2.1.3Items 08 02 03 02: Promotion of agricultural products – Simple programmes

3.2.1.4.Item 08 02 03 04: School schemes

3.2.1.5.Item 08 02 03 05: Olive Oil

3.2.1.6.Item 08 02 03 06: Fruit and vegetables

3.2.1.7.Item 08 02 03 07: Wine

3.2.1.8.Item 08 02 03 08: Apiculture

3.2.1.9.Item 08 02 03 10: Public and private storage measures

3.2.2.Article 08 02 05: Direct payments outside the CAP Strategic Plans

3.2.2.1.Item 08 02 05 01: POSEI and Smaller Aegean Islands (direct payments)

3.2.2.2.Item 08 02 05 02: Single area payment scheme (SAPS)

3.2.2.3.Item 08 02 05 03: Redistributive payment

3.2.2.4.Item 08 02 05 04: Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)

3.2.2.5.Item 08 02 05 05: Payment for agricultural practices beneficial for the climate and the environment

3.2.2.6.Item 08 02 05 07: Payment for young farmers

3.2.2.7.Item 08 02 05 08: Crop-specific payment for cotton

3.2.2.8.Item 08 02 05 09: Voluntary coupled support scheme

3.2.2.9.Item 08 02 05 10: Small farmers scheme

3.2.2.10. Item 08 02 05 11: Reserve for crises in the agricultural sector

3.2.2.11. Item 08 02 05 12: Reimbursement of direct payments in relation to financial discipline

3.2.3.Article 08 02 06: Policy strategy,coordination and audit

3.2.3.1Item 08 02 06 01: Financial corrections in favour of Member States following clearance of accounts

3.2.3.2Item 08 02 06 02: Settlement of disputes

3.2.3.3.Item 08 02 06 03: EAGF – Operational technical assistance

3.2.4.1.Item 08 02 99 01: Completion of previous measures under the "European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF)" - Shared management

4.IMPLEMENTATION OF REVENUE ASSIGNED TO EAGF

5.CONTROL MEASURES

5.1.Introduction

5.2.Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS)

5.3.Market measures

5.4.Application of Chapter III of Title V Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 (ex-post scrutiny)

6.CLEARANCE OF ACCOUNTS

6.1.Conformity clearance

6.1.1.Introduction

6.1.2.Audits and decisions adopted in 2021

6.1.2.1.Audits

6.1.2.2.Conformity decisions

6.2.Financial clearance

6.2.1.Introduction

6.2.2.Decisions

6.2.2.1.Financial clearance decision for previous financial years

6.2.2.2.Financial clearance decision for the financial year 2020

6.3.Appeals brought before the Court of Justice against clearance decisions

6.3.1.Judgments handed down

6.3.2.New appeals

6.3.3.Appeals pending

7.RELATIONS WITH PARLIAMENT AND WITH THE EUROPEAN COURT OF AUDITORS

7.1.Relations with Parliament

7.2.Relations with the European Court of Auditors

7.2.1.Mission of the European Court of Auditors

7.2.2.Annual Reports for financial year 2020

7.2.3.Special Reports by the ECA

8.ANNEXES

1.BUDGET PROCEDURE 1

1.1.Financial Framework 2021-2027 

Expenditure of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is funded within the multiannual financial framework for 2021-2027 as provided for in Council Regulation (EU) No 2020/2093 2 . Specifically, CAP expenditure is part of the ceiling fixed for Heading 3 - Natural Resources and Environment. Within that overall ceiling, a specific sub-ceiling has been fixed for market related expenditure and direct payments financed by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF).

The ceiling for market related expenditure and direct payments had to be adjusted following the transfer of certain amounts of direct payments to rural development (financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development - EAFRD) for the years 2021-2023 (flexibility between CAP pillars and reduction of direct payments), as well as the transfer from rural development (EAFRD) for the years 2021-2023 to direct payments (flexibility). Therefore, on the basis of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 2021/128 3 setting the net balance available for expenditure of the EAGF, the CAP amounts included in Heading 3 of the multiannual financial framework (2021-2027) are: 

(in EUR million; current prices)

1.2.Initial Draft Budget 2021 and Amending Letter 1/2021 

The initial Draft Budget 2021 was adopted by the Commission and proposed to the Budgetary Authority on 27 July 2020. The commitment appropriations proposed for the EAGF totalled EUR 40 179.1 million. The Council adopted its position on the Draft Budget 2021 on 28 September 2020, increasing the commitment appropriations for the EAGF by EUR 164.3 million. The European Parliament adopted its position on 12 November 2020, increasing the commitment appropriations for the EAGF by EUR 262.9 million compared to the Draft Budget.

On 13 November 2020 the Commission published Amending Letter (AL) No 1 to the Draft Budget 2021 increasing the needs in commitments by EUR 222.2 million compared to the Draft Budget. However, these additional needs were partially compensated by the EUR 33.3 million increase in the assigned revenue expected to be available in 2021. As a result, the requested commitment appropriations for the EAGF in the AL increased by EUR 188.9 million compared to the Draft Budget.

The Conciliation Committee, composed of members of the European Parliament and of the Council, did not agree on a joint text text within the 21-day time-limit referred to in Article 314(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

1.3.Adoption of the 2021 budget 

The Commission adopted a second Draft Budget 2021 on 10 December 2020. The 2021 budget was declared as adopted by the Council and by the European Parliament on 14 December and 18 December 2020, respectively. The budget's total commitment appropriations for the EAGF amounted to EUR 40 368.0 million and its payment appropriations amounted to EUR 40 353.7 million.

The difference between commitment and payment appropriations is due to the fact, that for certain measures, which are directly implemented by the Commission, differentiated appropriations are used. These measures relate mainly to the promotion of agricultural products and operational technical assitance.

Specifically, of the voted EAGF commitment appropriations for policy area 08 (Agriculture and Maritime Policy) amounting to EUR 40 368.0 million: EUR 2 618.1 million were foreseen for market-related expenditure outside the CAP Strategic Plans under article 08 02 03; EUR 37 431.7 million were foreseen for direct payments outside the CAP Strategic Plans under article 08 02 05; and EUR 307.3 million were foreseen for Policy strategy, coordination and audit under article 08 02 06. Further details are provided in annex 1.

1.4.Revenue assigned to the EAGF 4  

In accordance with Article 43 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 on the financing of the Common Agricultural Policy 5 , revenue originating from financial corrections under accounting or conformity clearance decisions, from irregularities and from the milk levy are designated as revenue assigned to the financing of EAGF expenditure. According to these rules, assigned revenue can be used to cover the financing of any EAGF expenditure. If a part of this revenue is not used, then this part will be automatically carried forward to the following budget year.

At the time of establishing the 2021 budget, the amount of assigned revenue expected to be collected in the course of the 2021 budget year was estimated at EUR 619 million. It was estimated that no assigned revenue will be carried over from the budget year 2020 into 2021.

The estimated assigned revenue was taken into account for the financing needs of the basic payment scheme when the Budgetary Authority adopted the 2021 budget.

For the basic payment scheme (direct payments), the sum of the voted appropriations by the Budgetary Authority and the estimated assigned revenue correspond to the total estimated need of EUR 14 791 million.

¾

2.CASH POSITION AND MANAGEMENT OF APPROPRIATIONS 

2.1.Management of appropriations 

2.1.1.Appropriations available for the 2021 financial year 

2.1.2.Expenditure section of the EU budget in relation to EAGF

The initial commitment appropriations for 2021 totalled EUR 40 367 954 000. This was a net amount after deducting the expected assigned revenue to be collected in 2021 and the one carried over from 2020 to 2021. The initial payment appropriations amounted to EUR 40 353 742 883.

In financial year 2021, there was a transfer of commitment appropriations to EAGF and transfers of payment appropriations out of EAGF. The commitment and payment appropriations finally available to the EAGF, after the transfers, amounted to EUR 40 371 454 000 and EUR 40 302 768 277 respectively.

Part of the appropriations coming from assigned revenue received in 2020 was not used in that financial year and was automatically carried over to 2021. The amount of these appropriations totalled EUR 55 455 215.16 Also appropriations for an amount of EUR 475 004 165 were made available for the reimbursement of direct payments in relation to financial discipline following Commission Decision C(2021)320 relating to the non-automatic carry-over of appropriations from the 2020 budget to the 2021 budget.

2.1.3.Assigned revenue section of the EU budget in relation to EAGF

For more details, please see point 1.4.

2.1.4.Budget execution of appropriations available for the 2021 financial year

(1) Committed amounts. Commitments and payments less assigned revenue of EUR 615 736 140.23 (see point 4 and annex 6) received for shared management: EUR 39 996 564 463.18.

For the financial year 2021, the actual amount of commitment appropriations used amounted to EUR 40 776 543 062.0 while for payment appropriations this amounted to EUR 40 702 689 650.5. Further details on the execution of appropriations under shared management are given in section 3.2 below.

2.1.5.Assigned revenue received under shared management

For details, please see points 1.4 and 4.

2.1.6.Budget execution - Expenditure under shared management

(1)Commitment appropriations = Payment appropriations

(2)The amount of EUR 41 383 278.00 for the UK relating to decision C(2021)3685 is included in the amounts shown under ‘Execution’ and under ‘Appropriations cancelled’.    

Appropriations available for the financing of the measures under shared management with Member States (excluding expenditure under direct management by the Commission) amounted to EUR 40 201 million compared to actual expenditure of EUR 39 515 million. In order to make it available for the reimbursement of direct payments in relation with financial discipline, an amount of EUR 686 million was carried over to budget year 2022 with Commission Decision C(2022)700 of 4 February 2022 on non-automatic carry-over of appropriations from the 2021 budget to the 2022 budget.

The 2021 appropriations coming from assigned revenue amounted to EUR 615.7 million of which an amount of EUR 613.6 million was used in article 08 02 05. The remaining amount of EUR 2.1 million was automatically carried over to budget year 2022.

Part of the appropriations coming from assigned revenue received in 2020 was not used in financial year 2020 and was automatically carried forward to 2021. These appropriations amounted to EUR 55.5 million and had to be used in accordance with Article 12 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 within that year. All these appropriations carried over from the previous financial year were fully used in 2021 in accordance with the Financial Regulation.

2.1.7.Budget execution of voted appropriations - Expenditure under direct management made by the Commission 

The available commitment appropriations for expenditure under direct management in the 2021 budget were EUR 170.0 million. An amount of EUR 164.2 million was committed in 2021. The balance of these appropriations, EUR 5.8 million, was cancelled.

The majority of EAGF appropriations for expenditure under direct management made by the Commission are differentiated appropriations.

The automatic carry-over to 2022, which relates only to non-differentiated appropriations, amounts to EUR 0.4 million.

For details, please see annexes 3 and 4.

2.1.8.Budget execution - Expenditure under direct management made by the Commission - Automatic carry-over from 2020

The automatic carry-over from 2020 to 2021 only concerned expenditure under direct management for non-differentiated appropriations. As indicated in the table above, an amount of EUR 17.5 million was carried over from 2020 to 2021. In 20201, an amount of EUR 0.9 million from this carry-over was de-committed. The payments made amounted to EUR 16.3 million.

For details, please see annex 4.

2.2.Monthly payments 

2.2.1.Monthly payments to Member States under shared management

2.2.1.1.Monthly payments - introduction

Article 18(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 states that "monthly payments shall be made by the Commission for expenditure effected by Member States' accredited paying agencies during the reference month". Monthly payments shall be made to each Member State at the latest on the third working day of the second month following that in which the expenditure is incurred.

The monthly payments are a reimbursement of net expenditure (after deduction of revenue) which has been already carried out and are made available on the basis of the monthly declarations forwarded by the Member States 6 . The monthly booking of expenditure and revenue is subject to checks and corrections on the basis of these declarations. Moreover, these payments will become final following the Commission's verifications under the accounting clearance of accounts procedure.

Payments made by the Member States from 16 October 2020 to 15 October 2021 are covered by the system for monthly payments.

For the whole financial year, the total of the decided amounts of monthly payments was EUR 40 499.6 million. Taking into account recovered amounts from clearance decisions, EUR 39 998.8 million have effectively been paid to Member States.

2.2.1.2.Decisions on monthly payments

The Commission adopted a payment decision for each of the twelve periods of the financial year. Furthermore, an additional decision was adopted in December, adjusting the total expenditure chargeable to the year.

For details, please see annex 2.

2.2.1.3.Reductions of monthly payments

In 2021, reductions for a net amount of EUR 6.1 million were made to the monthly payments effected to the Member States. For some aid measures financed by the EAGF, financial ceilings are determined in the sectoral regulations. Expenditure exceeding these ceilings is considered as "non eligible expenditure" and has to be corrected.

These corrections lead to reductions of the monthly payments. As a result of overspending these financial ceilings, the Commission made financial corrections for a total amount of EUR 6.1 million.

2.2.2.Direct management expenditure by the Commission

In certain cases, the Commission makes payments directly for certain measures. These concern payments for actions for instance related to controls, to promotion actions and to information actions on the agricultural policy.

For details, please see annexes 3 and 4.

3.THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 2021 EAGF BUDGET 

3.1.The uptake of the EAGF appropriations 

The implementation of the EAGF appropriations amounted to EUR 40 776.5 million 7 . This expenditure was funded by the budget's initial appropriations, by using the revenue assigned to the EAGF, and by a transfer from the EAFRD to the EAGF. From the revenue assigned to the EAGF, an amount of EUR 55.5 million carried over from 2020 was fully used while from the EUR 615.7 million assigned revenue collected in 2021 EUR 613.6 million was implemented.

Within chapter 08 02, the EAGF expenditure amounted to EUR 2 599.6 million for market measures, and EUR 37 878.8 million for direct payments.

For details of the budget's implementation by policy area, please see annex 5.

Annex 9 presents a breakdown of the expenditure by item, by fund source and by Member State.

The evolution of the overall EAGF expenditure by article and the evolution of direct payments expenditure by item for financial years 2015 - 2021 can be found in Annexes 10 and 12 of the Commission Staff Working document accompanying the 15th Financial report on the EAGF.

3.2.Comments on the budget implementation 

A brief commentary on the implementation of the appropriations as well as on the use of the assigned revenue is presented hereafter based on:

–Annex 5: Analysis of the execution of the 2021 EAGF budget. The expenditure incurred for each budget item appears in column 6. Columns 1 to 4 indicate, respectively, the source and amount of funding which originates either from voted appropriations, assigned revenue, amounts carried over, or from transfers of voted appropriations from other items of the budget;

–Annex 6: Assigned revenue (C4) collected and used in 2021;

–Annex 7: Assigned revenue (C5) carried over from 2020 and used in 2021;

–Annex 9: Expenditure by Member State, by fund source and by item.

This presentation is made at the level of article and item of the agricultural budget. Budget lines with an execution rate very close to the budgeted amounts are not described in this section.

3.2.1.Article 08 02 03: Market-related expenditure outside the CAP Strategic Plans

3.2.1.1.Introduction

Total execution (in commitment appropriations) for this article amounted to EUR 2 599.6 million and it was almost exclusively funded by voted appropriations. In items where the needs exceeded the budgetary appropriations, the additional expenditure was covered through transfers from other items of the budget. For the market measures where the budget's appropriations were underspent, the resulting available appropriations were transferred to other budget lines within the EAGF to cover additional expenditure as needed.

The measures related to market support measures covered in particular the fruit and vegetables and wine sectors, but also POSEI and Smaller Aegan Islands (excluding direct payments), promotion, apiculture and school schemes.

In the context of exceptional measures taken under this chapter to help producers cope with the COVID-19 crisis, the Commission adopted measures focused on the wine 8  and fruit and vegetables sectors 9 .

3.2.1.2.Item 08 02 03 01: POSEI and Smaller Aegean Islands (excluding direct payments)

Appropriations of EUR 224.0 million were budgeted under budget item 08 02 03 01. EUR 3.0 million were transferred out from this budget item.

3.2.1.3Items 08 02 03 02: Promotion of agricultural products – Simple programmes

The under-execution of EUR 22.5 million compared to the budgeted needs was mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The amount was transferred to cover the needs of other EAGF budget items.

3.2.1.4.Item 08 02 03 04: School schemes

The expenditure incurred for school schemes amounted to EUR 156.2 million compared to budgeted needs of EUR 205 million. The difference (EUR 48.8 million) was transferred to cover other EAGF expenditure. The lower uptake reflects the repercussions encountered due to the COVID-19 pandemic for the implementation of these schemes.

3.2.1.5.Item 08 02 03 05: Olive Oil

Appropriations of EUR 43.0 million were budgeted for the olive oil programmes. The expenditure incurred for this budget item amounted to EUR 57.6 million. The difference (EUR 14.6 million) has been transferred from other budget items within the same article. The overconsumption is mainly due to the higher request for advances as well as outstanding payments declared by one Member State following a ruling of a national court relating to the implementation of a previous annual work programme.

3.2.1.6.Item 08 02 03 06: Fruit and vegetables 

The expenditure incurred by Member States for this budget item amounted to EUR 891.4 million. In addition to the voted appropriations of EUR 867.0 million, EUR 24.4 million were transferred from other EAGF budget lines to cover the needs.

3.2.1.7.Item 08 02 03 07: Wine

The budget foresaw EUR 1 026.0 million appropriations to cover the estimated needs of all the measures for this sector. A transfer of EUR 3.8 million was made to cover the total execution which amounted to EUR 1 029.8 million. For Covid-19 measures a total amount of EUR 72.6 million was spent in the Wine sector (Crisis distillation: EUR 42.81 million, Crisis storage: EUR 20.99 million, Harvest insurance: EUR 8.79 million).

3.2.1.8.Item 08 02 03 08: Apiculture

Appropriations of EUR 59.0 million were budgeted for apiculture out of which EUR 46.6 million were spent. The difference (EUR -12.4 million) has been transferred within the same article.

3.2.1.9.Item 08 02 03 10: Public and private storage measures

The budgeted amount of EUR 9 million has been exceeded with EUR 25.3 million. The difference has been transferred from within the same article. It concerns mainly the private storage aid for olive oil adopted in 2019, for which in budget year 2021 Member States declared outstanding payments for a total of EUR 28.1 million.

3.2.2.Article 08 02 05: Direct payments outside the CAP Strategic Plans 

Financial year 2021 was the sixth year of implementation of the 2013 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. Total spending for this budget article amounted to EUR 37 878.8 million. This includes EUR 428.3 10 million paid for the reimbursement of direct payments to farmers in relation to financial discipline, financed from EUR 475.0 million carried over from 2020 (for details, see point 3.2.2.11). The rest of the payments made (EUR 37 450.5 million) was funded by voted appropriations (EUR 36 781.4 million) and by assigned revenue (EUR 669.1 million). The latter was mainly used to cover part of the expenditure incurred for the basic payment scheme (for details, see point 3.2.2.4 ).

In items where the needs exceeded the budget’s voted appropriations, the additional expenditure was covered through transfers of voted appropriations from other items of the budget, or of assigned revenue.

The total unused appropriations amounted to EUR 693.9 million, of which EUR 686.4 million have been carried over to financial year 2022 to be reimbursed by the Member States to the beneficiaries. This included EUR 487.6 million of the unused crisis reserve. 

Annex 5 and annex 9 present details on the budget implementation at the level of each budget item.

The main schemes funded under this article are the single area payment scheme (SAPS), the basic payment scheme (BPS), the payment for agricultural practices beneficial for the climate and the environment and the voluntary coupled support scheme. Most aid schemes in this budget article are paid independently of production (decoupled direct payments). They are all subject to the respect of cross-compliance.

3.2.2.1.Item 08 02 05 01: POSEI and Smaller Aegean Islands (direct payments)

The execution for the POSEI and Smaller Aegean Islands (direct payments) ran up to 100.1 % of the budgeted needs (EUR 431.0 million). The unforeseen needs were covered by transfers from other items within the same article.

3.2.2.2.Item 08 02 05 02: Single area payment scheme (SAPS)

As regards SAPS, the appropriations in the budget amounted to EUR 4 406.0 million and Member States incurred payments amounting to EUR 4 362.5 million. This leads to a budget execution of 99.0 %. The remaining amount of EUR 43.5 million was transferred to other budget items within the same article.

3.2.2.3.Item 08 02 05 03: Redistributive payment 

The budgeted needs for the redistributive payment amounted to EUR 1 610.0 million and the expenditure declared by Member States was EUR 1 597.7 million or 99.2 % of the budgeted needs. EUR 12.3 million have been transferred to budget items within the same article.

3.2.2.4.Item 08 02 05 04: Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)

As regards the BPS, the budgetary needs were estimated at EUR 14 791.0 million. To cover these needs, the Budgetary Authority voted appropriations amounting to EUR 14 172.0 million after taking into account EUR 619.0 million of revenue assigned to this scheme. The expenditure declared by Member States for this scheme amounted to EUR 14 812.4 million, corresponding to 100.1 % of the estimated needs. The additional needs of EUR 21.4 million were covered by transfers from other budget items and articles.

3.2.2.5.Item 08 02 05 05: Payment for agricultural practices beneficial for the climate and the environment

The voted appropriations in the budget for the payment for agricultural practices beneficial for the climate and the environment, the so-called greening, amounted to EUR 10 778.0 million whereas expenditure incurred by Member States was at EUR 10 775.7 million, giving an execution rate of 99.8 %.

3.2.2.6.Item 08 02 05 07: Payment for young farmers

For the payment for young farmers, needs were estimated at EUR 574.0 million in the budget. Expenditure amounted to EUR 484.0 million or 84.3 % of the budgeted needs. The surplus was transferred to other budget items within the same article.

3.2.2.7.Item 08 02 05 08: Crop-specific payment for cotton

For the crop-specific payment for cotton, needs were estimated at EUR 242.0 million in the budget. Expenditure was EUR 240.8 million, i.e. 99.5 % of the budgeted amount.

3.2.2.8.Item 08 02 05 09: Voluntary coupled support scheme

For this budget item needs were estimated at EUR 4 019.0 million in the budget. Expenditure was EUR 4 015.0 million, i.e. 99.9 % of the needs.

3.2.2.9.Item 08 02 05 10: Small farmers scheme

For the small farmers scheme, needs were estimated at EUR 707.1 million in the budget. Expenditure was EUR 726.3 million, i.e. 102.7 % of the needs. The additional needs of EUR 19.2 million were mainly covered by assigned revenue.

3.2.2.10. Item 08 02 05 11: Reserve for crises in the agricultural sector

The appropriations of this article are intended to cover expenditure for measures which have to be taken in order to cope with major crises affecting agricultural production or distribution. The crisis reserve is established by applying, at the beginning of each year, a reduction to the direct payments through the financial discipline mechanism in accordance with Articles 25 and 26 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 as well as Article 8 of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 11 . In 2021 the crisis reserve of EUR 487.6 million was not used and the corresponding amount was carried-over to 2022 to be reimbursed to the beneficeries.

3.2.2.11. Item 08 02 05 12: Reimbursement of direct payments in relation to financial discipline 

No appropriations are allocated to this article by the Budgetary Authority. This article serves the purpose of collecting the non-committed voted appropriations of the unused crisis reserve carried over to finance the reimbursement of the financial discipline applied to direct payments 12 .

Each year, if applicable, a Commission Implementing Regulation sets the amounts that each Member State has to reimburse to farmers and, in accordance with the introductory phrase of Article 12(2) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, determines that the expenditure in relation to this reimbursement shall only be eligible for Union financing if the amounts have been paid to the beneficiaries before 16 October of the financial year to which the appropriations are carried over. From the amount of EUR 475.0 million, corresponding to the financial discipline applied during financial year 2020 that was carried over to budget 2021 for reimbursement, Member States reimbursed EUR 428.3 million. An amount of EUR 41.4 million was separately reimbursed to the United Kingdom. For financial year 2021, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/2091 13 sets the amount of reimbursement at EUR 686.4 million (for EU 27).

In financial year 2021, financial discipline was applied both to constitute a crises reserve of 487.6 million and in order to ensure that the EAGF net balance is not overspent. Therefore, it was set at a significantly higher amount than the crises reserve.

3.2.3.Article 08 02 06: Policy strategy,coordination and audit 

3.2.3.1Item 08 02 06 01: Financial corrections in favour of Member States following clearance of accounts 

This item includes the expenditure to finance possible accounting and conformity corrections in favour of Member States.

The corrections in favour of Member States following accounting clearance of accounts and conformity clearance of accounts were EUR 228.3 million, i.e. EUR 4.8 million lower than the budgeted amount of EUR 233.1 million.

3.2.3.2Item 08 02 06 02: Settlement of disputes

The appropriations in this item are intended to cover expenditure for which the Commission could be held liable by decision of a court of justice, including the cost of settling claims for damages and interest. An amount of EUR 0.3 million was executed while the 2021 budget foresaw no appropriations. The need was covered by transfer.

3.2.3.3.Item 08 02 06 03: EAGF – Operational technical assistance

This item finances amongst others actions in the framework of the Farm accountancy data network (FADN), IT-Systems, Restructuring agricultural surveys, fairs and publications aimed at enhancing public awareness of the CAP, including actions under corporate communication, and costs for satellite imagery purchases to assist Member States in carrying out control and monitoring on aid applications. Appropriations committed amounted to EUR 63.3 million, while the budget foresaw appropriations amounting to EUR 74.2 million. The difference to the budgeted amount (EUR 10.9 million) was partly transferred outside the article partly remained unconsumed on this budget line.

3.2.4.    Article 08 02 99: Completion of previous programmes and activities

3.2.4.1.Item 08 02 99 01: Completion of previous measures under the "European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF)" - Shared management

This item foresees budget for former measures from the markets, direct payments and rural development which still need to be completed. The budget foresaw EUR 6.6 million appropriations to cover the estimated needs of all the measures for this item. Expenditure was EUR 2.9 million. The difference to the budgeted amount (EUR 3.7 million) was transferred outside the article.

4.IMPLEMENTATION OF REVENUE ASSIGNED TO EAGF 

The assigned revenue actually carried over from 2020 into 2021, amounted to EUR 55.5 million and was entirely used in financing EAGF expenditure of the 2021 budget year in accordance with article 12 of the Financial Regulation. As presented in annex 7, this amount covered expenditure for the basic payment scheme.

As regards the assigned revenue collected in 2021, annex 6 shows that this revenue amounted to EUR 615.7 million and it originated from:

¾the clearance corrections procedure, EUR 503 million,

¾the receipts from irregularities, EUR 112.7 million

From the assigned revenue collected in 2021, the following amounts were used:

¾EUR 582.9 million under the basic payment scheme,

¾EUR 17.9 million for the payments for agricultural practices beneficial for the climate and the environment and

¾EUR 12.9 million for the small farmers scheme.

The balance of assigned revenue collected in 2021 (EUR 2.1 million) was automatically carried over to the 2022 budget.

5.CONTROL MEASURES 

5.1.Introduction

In accordance with the EU legislation and as in previous years, the 2021 agricultural expenditure was submitted to a comprehensive system of control measures.

This system includes, on the one hand, all the necessary building blocks to guarantee a sound administration of the expenditure at Member States’ level and, on the other hand, allows the Commission to counter the risk of financial losses as a result of any deficiencies in the set-up and operation of those building blocks through the clearance of accounts procedure.

Member States have to ensure that the transactions are carried out and executed correctly, to prevent and deal with irregularities and to recover amounts unduly paid.

In addition to this general obligation, there is a system of controls and dissuasive sanctions of final beneficiaries which reflects the specific features of the regime and the risk involved in its administration.

The controls are carried out by the paying agencies or by delegated bodies operating under their supervision and effective, dissuasive and proportionate sanctions are imposed if the controls reveal non-compliance with EU rules. The system generally provides for exhaustive administrative controls of 100% of the aid applications, cross-checks with other databases where this is considered appropriate as well as pre-payment on-the-spot controls of a sample of transactions ranging between 1% and 100%, depending on the risk associated with the regime in question.

In addition, for most regimes which are not subject to the Integrated Administration and Control System, on top of the primary and secondary control levels, ex-post controls must be carried out.

5.2.Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS)

Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 639/2014 14 and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 640/2014 15 contain the rules on the IACS.

A fully operational IACS consists of: a computerised database, an identification system for agricultural parcels and farmers claiming aid, a system for identification and registration of payment entitlements, aid applications and integrated controls system (claim processing, on-the-spot checks and sanctioning mechanisms) and a system for identifying and registering animals where applicable. The IACS is fully automated.

This system foresees a 100% administrative control covering the eligibility of the claim, complemented by administrative cross-controls with standing databases ensuring that only areas or animals that fulfil all eligible requirements are paid the premium and, a minimum 5% 16 of on-the-spot checks to check the existence and eligibility of the area or the animals claimed.

For the financial year 2021, the IACS covered 93.8% of the EAGF expenditure. Furthermore, the relevant components of the IACS are applicable to the rural development measures, which are based on area or number of animals. Such measures include, inter alia, agri-environment and animal welfare measures, less-favoured areas and areas with environmental restrictions, and afforestation of agricultural land. For financial year 2021, 46.2% of payments made under the EAFRD were also covered.

The Commission services verify the effectiveness of Member States' IACS and homogenous implementation by means of both on-the-spot auditing and general supervision based on annually supplied financial and statistical data. It has been established already for some years now that the IACS provides an excellent and cost effective means of ensuring the proper use of EU funds.

5.3.Market measures

Market interventions, for example storage aid or aid to producer organisations, are not covered by IACS but they are governed by specific rules as regards controls and sanctions which are set out in horizontal and sector-based regulations.

Aids are paid on the basis of claims, often involving the lodging of administrative and/or end-use securities, which are systematically (100%) checked administratively for completeness and correctness. The more financially important aid schemes are also subject to regular accounting controls performed in situ on commercial and financial documents.

5.4.Application of Chapter III of Title V Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 (ex-post scrutiny)

An ex-post control system is provided for under Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 in Title V, Chapter III. It provides for an ex-post control system which is a complement to the sectoral control systems described above. The system constitutes an extra layer of control which contributes to the assurance that transactions have been carried out in conformity with the rules or otherwise allows recovering the unduly paid amounts.

The ex-post scrutiny is to be carried out by a body in the Member State, which is independent of the departments within the paying agency responsible for the pre-payment controls and the payments. It covers a wide range of CAP subsidies including sector schemes for fruit and vegetables, wine and POSEI aids. In fact, the ex-post scrutiny covers all aids paid to beneficiaries from EAGF (except payments covered by IACS and those excluded by Article 14 of Regulation (EU) No 907/2014).

In 2021, Member States’ scrutiny services completed ex-post controls in respect of undertakings to which payments were made in financial year 2019. The annual reports in respect of the respective scrutiny period (July 2020 - June 2021) shows that Member States completed 82% of the planned scrutinies at the end of the scrutiny reporting period. Several Member States reported that their control approach has been adapted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The regulation also foresees Member States providing mutual assistance in the performance of scrutinies. In the 2020/2021 scrutiny period, according to the reporting, 11 such requests were fulfilled.

At the end of 2021, Regulation (EU) 2021/2118 has been adopted. It provides the new rules for simplified system of the scrutiny of transaction that will enter into force as of 1 January 2023.

6.CLEARANCE OF ACCOUNTS 

6.1.Conformity clearance

6.1.1.Introduction

It is primarily the Member States' responsibility to ensure that transactions are carried out and executed correctly via a system of control and dissuasive sanctions. Where Member States fail to meet this requirement, the Commission applies financial corrections to protect the financial interests of the EU.

The conformity clearance relates to the legality and regularity of transactions. It is designed to exclude expenditure from EU financing which has not been effected in compliance with EU rules, thus shielding the EU budget from expenditure that should not have been charged to it (financial corrections). In contrast, it is not a mechanism by which irregular payments to beneficiaries are recovered, which - according to the principle of shared management - is the sole responsibility of the Member States.

Financial corrections are determined on the basis of the nature and gravity of the infringement and the financial damage caused to the EU. Where possible, the amount is calculated on the basis of the loss actually caused or on the basis of an extrapolation. Where this is not possible, flat-rates are applied to take account of the severity of the deficiencies in the national control systems in order to reflect the financial risk for the EU.

Where undue payments are or can be identified as a result of the conformity clearance procedures, Member States are required to follow them up by recovery actions against the final beneficiaries. However, even where this is not possible because the financial corrections only relate to deficiencies in the Member States' management and control systems, financial corrections are an important means to improve these systems and thus to prevent or detect and recover irregular payments to final beneficiaries. The conformity clearance, thereby, contributes to the legality and regularity of the transactions at the level of the final beneficiaries.

6.1.2.Audits and decisions adopted in 2021

6.1.2.1.Audits

The following table presents an overview of the conformity audits with missions and their coverage in respect of financial year 2021, broken down per policy area:

6.1.2.2.Conformity decisions

Three conformity clearance decisions having an impact on the financial year 2021 were adopted, including financial corrections in a number of sectors. They also included the execution of a number of Court decisions in favour of Member States. Therefore, the overall financial impact for the EAGF was EUR 295.8 million in favour of the EAGF.

Adopted decisions:

·Decision (EU) 2020/1734 of 20 November 2020 – ad-hoc decision 64, with financial impact of EUR 23.8 million in favour of the EAGF

·Decision (EU) EU 2021/261 of 17 February 2021 – ad-hoc decision 65, with financial impact of EUR 66.8 million in favour of the EAGF

·Decision (EU) EU 2021/262 of 17 February 2021 – ad-hoc decision 65 UK, with financial impact of EUR 5.8 million in favour of the EAGF

·Decision EU 2021/988 of 16 June 2021 – ad-hoc decision 66, with financial impact of EUR 199.3 million in favour of the EAGF

·Decision EU 2021/987 of 16 June 2021 – ad-hoc decision 66 UK, with financial impact of EUR 0.10 million in favour of the EAGF

For the decisions 64 and 65, due to the relative magnitude of corrections compared to certain Member State’s gross domestic product, the Commission decided, upon request of the Member States concerned, that the following corrections could be paid in 3 equal annual instalments.

The breakdown of the financial impact according to sectors/measures is as follows (in EUR):

Under Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, an automatic clearing mechanism is applied to irregular payments not recovered 4 years after the establishment of the irregularity, or 8 years after the establishment of the irregularity when the recovery is challenged in national courts. The financial consequences of non recovery are shared by the Member State concerned and the EU on a 50% - 50% basis. Even after the application of this mechanism, Member States are, however, obliged to pursue their recovery procedures and, if they fail to do so with the necessary diligence, the Commission may decide to charge the entire outstanding amounts to the Member States concerned.

Regarding financial year 2021, Member States reported the information about recovery cases on 15 February 2022. The Member States recovered during financial year 2021 around EUR 65.6 million for the EAGF. The outstanding amount still to be recovered from beneficiaries at the end of the financial year 2021 was EUR 839.6 million for the EAGF. The financial consequences to the Member States for non-recovery of EAGF, EAFRD and TRDI cases within 4 years from the date of the recovery request (for new cases) or Primary administrative or judicial finding – PACA - (for old cases), or within 8 years where recovery is taken to the national courts, amounted to EUR 40.7 million. During financial year 2021, around EUR 60.3 million was borne at 100% by the EU budget for EAGF, EAFRD and TRDI.

6.2.Financial clearance

6.2.1.Introduction

The financial clearance covers the completeness, accuracy and veracity of paying agencies' accounts, the internal control systems set up by these paying agencies and the legality and regularity of the expenditure for which reimbursement has been requested from the Commission. Within this framework, Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI) pays particular attention to the certificationg bodies’ conclusions and recommendations (where weaknesses are found), following their reviews of the paying agencies’ compliance with the accreditation criteria. As part of this review, DG AGRI also covers aspects relating to conformity issues and protecting the financial interests of the EU as regards advances paid, securities obtained and intervention stocks.

The Commission adopts an annual clearance of accounts decision clearing the paying agencies' annual accounts on the basis of the certificates and reports from the certification bodies, but without prejudice to any subsequent decisions to recover expenditure which proves not to have been in accordance with the EU rules. These accounts are received by the Commission by 15 February of the year following the financial year in question. The Commission decides whether the accounts of each paying agency are cleared and adopts its clearance decision by 31 May of the year following the financial year in question. The accounts not cleared by 31 May are cleared later in a future decision, once assurance on the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the accounts is obtained.

6.2.2.Decisions

6.2.2.1.Financial clearance decision for previous financial years

All EAGF accounts of the Member States for previous financial years were cleared in Commission Implementing Decisions adopted prior to 1.1.2021.

6.2.2.2.Financial clearance decision for the financial year 2020

On 28 May 2021, the Commission adopted a Decision (2021/870) clearing the annual accounts of all paying agencies of the Member States for financial year 2020, except for the paying agencies IT26 - Agenzia della regione Calabria per le Erogazioni in Agricoltura (ARCEA - Italy) and SK01 - Pôdohospodárska platobná agentúra (APA - Slovakia). This decision cleared EUR 40 021 million. The disjoined accounts of the two paying agencies will be cleared in a future decision, once assurance on the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the accounts is ensured.

On 28 May 2021, the Commission adopted a Decision (2021/871) clearing the annual accounts of the paying agencies in the United Kingdom for financial year 2020. This decision cleared EUR 3 197 million.

6.3.Appeals brought before the Court of Justice against clearance decisions

6.3.1.Judgments handed down

In the financial year 2021, the Court handed down 3 judgments in appeals brought by the Member States against conformity clearance decisions.

In financial year 2021, the Court annulled:

In financial year 2021, the Court partially annulled:

In financial year 2021, the Court rejected appeals brought in the following cases:

6.3.2.New appeals

In the financial year 2021, 8 new appeals were brought by the Member States against clearance decisions:

6.3.3.Appeals pending

The situation as at 15 October 2021 with regard to appeals pending together with the amounts concerned is shown in annex 13.

7.RELATIONS WITH PARLIAMENT AND WITH THE EUROPEAN COURT OF AUDITORS 

7.1.Relations with Parliament 

The European Parliament (EP) is, together with the Council, part of the EU’s Budgetary Authority. It is, thus, one of the most important discussion partners of the Commission on budgetary matters and, therefore, on the EAGF.

Three EP committees are involved in the discussions and the preparation for the plenary on agricultural budgetary matters. These are the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, the Committee on Budgets and the Committee on Budgetary Control.

Since 2014 the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development provides an opinion on the discharge procedure to the Committee on Budgetary Control.

The Committee on Budgetary Control monitors the correct implementation of the budget and drafts the opinion proposing to the Parliament to grant the discharge and making recommendations to the Commission or to Member States.

The European Parliament granted discharge to the Commission, in respect to the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the 2020 financial year, by a vote in plenary on a Parliamentary Decision, which took place on 4 May 2022.

7.2.Relations with the European Court of Auditors

7.2.1.Mission of the European Court of Auditors 

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) is the external independent auditor of the European Union. Articles 285 to 287 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union provide that the ECA carries out the Union’s audit with the dual aim of improving financial management and reporting to the citizens of Europe on the use made of public funds by the authorities responsible for their management. The ECA provides the European Parliament and the Council with a statement of assurance as to the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions. This statement, which can be complemented by specific assessments for various policy areas, is of prime importance to the European Parliament in its deliberations on granting discharge to the Commission for the implementation of the budget.

As part of its work, the ECA carries out numerous audits within the Commission services. ECA officials frequently interact with the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development to gather facts and figures needed for the ECA's annual and special reports, as well as for its opinions and review-based publications. As the result of their audit work, the ECA frequently makes suggestions and recommendations to the Commission on how to improve its financial management make supervisory and control systems more effective and improve policy performance. 

7.2.2.Annual Reports for financial year 2020

Every year the ECA publishes its Annual report on the implementation of the EU budget in which it gives a statement of assurance on the reliability of the consolidated accounts of the EU as well as on the legality and regularity of transactions. This is supplemented with specific assessments of each major area of EU activity. The report is published along with the Institutions' replies and is presented to the European Parliament after the summer break of year N+1.

In line with International Audit Standards, adversarial meetings take place between the auditor (the ECA) and the auditee (the Commission and the other Institutions and bodies) before the report is published. In these meetings, the ECA's findings and conclusions are discussed to ensure agreement on the underlying facts or existing interpretation of legislation. The wording of the auditee's replies is also discussed.

In the Annual report for financial year 2020, the activities relevant for the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural development are considered together with other policy areas relevant to “natural resources” under one single chapter, Chapter 6 – Natural Resources. Within this chapter, direct payment transactions financed under the EAGF are assessed separately from market measures transactions financed under the EAGF, transactions financed under the EAFRD and transactions financed under other policy areas (environment, climate action and fisheries).

Whilst a breakdown of the level of error per type of transaction is not provided, the ECA states that its estimate of the level of error for EAGF direct payments is below the materiality threshold of 2%. Direct Payments are hence considered as a low risk spending area.

For EAGF market measures, the Court tested 16 transactions, of which 4 presented an error with financial impact. Market measures, which represent some 4.3% of expenditure covered under “Natural resources”, are considered together with rural development and other policy areas (environment, climate and fisheries) as higher risk spending areas.

The audit conclusion of the Court is consistent with the error rates reported in DG AGRI’s AAR 2020.

Since FY 2016 the Court has maintained its opinion that the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) contributes significantly to preventing and reducing the error level. For 2020, the Court also referred to the “checks by monitoring” which the Paying Agencies can use since 2018. The Court reiterated that the preliminary cross-checks on direct aid applications carried out by Paying Agencies operates as an effective management and control system to ensure that these payments are not affected by material error (the preliminary cross-checks alert farmers to certain errors in their applications, enabling them to correct overlaps and double declarations at an early stage, without facing sanctions). The ECA also reviewed two paying agencies’ use of checks by monitoring. Checks by monitoring provide regular observations of agricultural activity and can be used to warn farmers of potential non-compliance with the payment scheme rules at any time during the growing season. This provides farmers with more opportunities to rectify their claims before they are finalised and indeed the ECA found that the paying agencies had used checks by monitoring to prevent a number of overpayments. At the end of 2020, the area of the main direct aid schemes (basic payments and single area payments) subject to checks by monitoring was 5.7%. .

The Court did not issue any new recommendation to the Commission for the Natural Ressources chapter.

With regard to the recommendations concerning EAGF and made during previous statement of assurance exercises, for which the follow up was due, the ECA concluded that the only remaining recommendation, from 2017, which was targeted for implementation in 2020, was fully implemented by the Commission. The recommendation concerned the monitoring of the paying agencies’ progress in supporting farmers not using geo-spatial aid application (GSAA).

Political stakeholders and the public increasingly require clear evidence for the Commission’s delivery on political and operational objectives. In this context, the ECA also publishes a report on the performance of the EU budget which looks at the results and progress of EU programmes. The main audit question the ECA selected for last year’s report was how the Commission and the co-legislators have used the lessons learnt from previous multiannual financial framework (MFF) periods to improve the design and performance of spending programmes for the 2021-2027 period.

The ECA found that the Better Regulation framework is helpful in identifying lessons learnt and for ensuring that they are applied in the design of future programmes. According to the ECA, the "evaluate first" principle was applied fairly consistently, though not always. The auditors recommended that the Commission should improve its impact assessments and clearly identify relevant follow-up actions arising from evaluations.

The ECA highlighted that the Commission had taken into account the lessons learnt from the relevant evaluations and audits but only to a limited extent in relation to measuring the CAP’s contribution to climate action. The report stressed that a more realistic way of estimating the contribution to climate action of direct payments made to farmers would be required.

The ECA also flagged that not all the thematic aspects of the CAP were sufficiently covered by evaluations for the purpose of the Impact Assessment that accompanied the CAP reform proposals in 2018. The Commission clarified that this was a result of the time needed to obtain all the necessary CAP implementation data before a robust evaluation could be carried out. Therefore, not all evaluations relating to the previous MFF were finalised and available for the impact assessment that accompanied the CAP proposals adopted in 2018.

The Commission also explained that carrying out evaluations too early, for example after only one year of implementation, risks that the evaluation would have shortcomings and limit the lessons that can be learnt. During the 2014-2020 period, DG AGRI has conducted more than 20 thematic evaluations on various aspects of the CAP that assessed its performance. Concerning the new CAP, the legal framework has been adopted and the rules will become applicable in the beginning of 2023 after a transition period of two years. This means that the first data on results and performance by Member States of the new CAP will only become available in February 2025.

7.2.3.Special Reports by the ECA 

In 2021, the ECA published 8 special reports covering DG AGRI's activities:

¾Special report 11/2021: Exceptional support for EU milk producers in 2014-2016 – Potential to improve future efficiency (published 06/2021);

¾Special report 16/2021: Common Agricultural Policy and climate: Half of EU climate spending but farm emissions are not decreasing (published 06/2021);

¾Special report 20/2021: Sustainable water use in agriculture: CAP funds more likely to promote greater rather than more efficient water use (published 09/2021);

¾Special report 21/2021: EU funding for biodiversity and climate change in EU forests: positive but limited results (published 10/2021);

¾Special report 22/2021: Sustainable finance: More consistent EU action needed to redirect finance towards sustainable investment (published 09/2021);

¾Special report 12/2021: The Polluter Pays Principle: Inconsistent application across EU environmental policies and actions (published 07/2021);

¾Special Report 10/2021: Gender mainstreaming in the EU budget: time to turn words into action (published 05/2021);

¾Special Report 07/2021: EU space programmes Galileo and Copernicus: services launched, but the uptake needs a further boost (published 04/2021).

8.ANNEXES

General

1.    EAGF budgetary procedure for 2021

Cash position and management of appropriations

2.    Monthly reimbursements to Member States for the 2021 financial year

3.    Payments under direct management by the European Commission in the 2021 financial year (Differentiated Appropriations)

4.    Payments under direct management by the European Commission in the 2021 financial year (Non-Differentiated Appropriations)

Budget outturn

5.    EAGF 2021 Analysis of budget execution

6.    EAGF 2021 Analysis of execution of assigned revenue C4

7.    EAGF 2021 Analysis of execution of assigned revenue C5

8.    EAGF 2021 Expenditure for intervention in storage

9.    EAGF 2021 Expenditure by Member State, by item and by fund source

10.    Evolution of EAGF Expenditure by Member State & in % terms. Financial years 2015 to 2021

11.    Evolution of EAGF Storage expenditure. Financial years 2014 to 2021

12.    Evolution of the breakdown of EAGF expenditure. Financial years 2015 to 2021

Clearance of accounts

13.    Appeals against Clearance Decisions pending on 15 October 2021

14.    Financial corrections (Decisions 45 - 66) by decision and financial year

(1)      This procedure is presented in annex 1.

(2)    OJ L 433I , 22.12.2020, p. 11;

(3)    OJ L 40, 4.2.2021, p. 8.

(4)    These amounts are not entered in the revenue lines of the budget ( 670 item 6 2 0 0 for the revenue assigned to the EAGF), which mention "p.m." ("pro memoria"), but the forecast amount is mentioned in the budgetary remarks for this article.

(5)    OJ L 347 of 20.12.2013, p. 549.

(6)    These monthly declarations of expenditure are transmitted by the Member States by the declaration of the 12th of the month N+1.

(7)      This figure includes the reimbursement of the financial discipline related to the agricultural crisis reserve carried over from financial year 2020. However, it does not include EUR 41 383 278.00 reimbursed to the UK following decision C(2021)3685.

(8)      Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1763 of 6 October 2021 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/600 as regards the derogations from Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1150 to address the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the wine sector; OJ L 355 of 7.10.2021, p. 3-5.

(9)      Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2245 of 12 October 2021 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/891 as regards the calculation of the value of marketed production of producer organisations in the fruit and vegetable sector; OJ L 453 of 17.12.2021, p. 3-4.

(10) Without taking into account EUR 41 383 278.00 reimbursed to the UK following decision C(2021)3685

(11)    OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 608

(12)      These appropriations may be carried over, in accordance with point (d) of the first subparagraph and the third subparagraph of Article 12(2) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, and, in accordance with Article 26(5) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013. They are made available to the Member States for the reimbursement of the final recipients who are subject, in the financial year to which the appropriations are carried over, to the application of financial discipline in accordance with Article 26, paragraphs (1) to (4) thereof.

(13)

   OJ L 427, 30.11.2021, p. 162–165

(14)    OJ L 181, 20.6.2014, p. 1

(15)    OJ L 181, 20.6.2014, p.48

(16)    Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the movement restrictions in place, Regulation (EU) 2020/532 offered flexibilities to Member States regarding control requirements, including the minimum control rate for on-the-spot checks.