İtalya'da çiftçilere CAP avans ödemelerinde 600 milyon euro eşiği aşıldı

Almost €600 million in advance payments already disbursed to farmers in Italy

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 25 - Almost €600 million in CAP advance payments have already been disbursed to Italian farmers, around three months ahead of the 16 October deadline. In particular, Agea, the Agency for Agricultural Payments, began authorising payments as early as 26 July, with €577,835,632.03 already disbursed. Under EU rules, the first tranche of direct aid in the form of advance payments was originally due to start on 16 October. "We worked on the timing. In the past, receiving funding on time was an ordeal. We also activated the anti-fraud service to ensure that these were lawful payments, and we put the entire process for disbursing EU funding under pressure. As a result, we were the first European country to make the advance payments," Agea Director Fabio Vitale said during ANSAIncontra, commenting on the results. "We started making payments on 27 July," he explained. "This was an option granted to Member States which the government deemed necessary and essential to implement. As the technical body, we were ready because already in June we had collected 700,000 applications nationwide, processed them in five days and, by 6 July, we were already ready to make payments before the EU regulation had even been approved. We have paid €577 million to date and will pay €680 million through Agea and €621 million through regional paying agencies by the end of August, for a total of €1.3 billion." Agea's objective, Vitale said, "is to have disbursed €1.6 billion by 15 October, the day before the European financial campaign formally opens, and to reach around €2.5 billion by 30 November, when the advance-payment campaign closes". Since 1 January, the total amount disbursed through various forms of payment has reached €2.2 billion. In addition to the timing of payments, implementation procedures for the tax credit on diesel fuel have also changed, with the relevant measures issued within just 48 hours instead of 48 days. Agea is also active on the legality front through Agecontrol, as part of the steering committee established by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture. "Using risk indicators," Vitale said, "we inspected farms in Basilicata and Calabria, and all of them were found to be non-compliant for various reasons, with some employing workers irregularly." On the fight against illegal labour recruitment, Vitale proposed "having a body appointed by a public institution collect these workers and take them to their workplaces, but to do this they must have formal employment contracts". In essence, he explained, this would mean "institutionalising the process of integrating these people into areas where work is available", with the support of local authorities, agricultural associations and municipalities. This would provide "an additional tool to drive criminal organisations and illegal labour recruiters out of the system". #IMCAP Co-funded by the European Union. However, the views expressed belong solely to the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible. (ANSA). Read article...