* Reuters
    * , Wednesday July 16 2008

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7655489

(Adds quotes, details)
BRUSSELS, July 16 (Reuters) - Greece stands to lose up to 10 percent
of its European Union farm subsidies because of s
hortcomings in its national land registration system, the European
Commission said on Wednesday.
"We have written to the Greek authorities to say we are starting a
procedure that could lead to a 10 percent cut in farm payments,"
Commission agriculture spokesman Michael Mann said.
He said the Commission had already had to recover some 600 million
euros ($955 million) from Greece in the last two years because of
 problems with its Land Parcel Identification System.
"As a ballpark figure, I could say that between 200 and 300 million
euros could be potentially affected," he said. Athens would make
 the payments to Greek farmers but would not be reimbursed by Brussels
unless the shortcomings were rectified.
"This does not mean losses for Greek farmers, they would still get
their money since it would not be the Commission paying it but it
would have to come from the Greek government," he told a daily news briefing.
The computerised system, used to ensure that farm payments correspond
to the correct farm area, suffered from IT problems, a shortage
of staff and failure to cover the whole country, he said. "There are
clearly problems," Mann said.
The Greek authorities had put forward an action plan to fix the
problems but a recent Commission audit had found there was a severe
danger that the targets would not be met, he said.
Greece has until the start of September to respond to a letter sent by
EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel on Wednesday.
An EU inspection team will visit Greece in the week starting on Sept.
22 to verify the situation on the ground.
"We will then be able to make a decision on whether or not to stop
this money some time this autumn," Mann said.
(Reporting by Paul Taylor and Jeremy Smith)

===================================

--
June Samaras
KALAMOS BOOKS
(For Books about Greece)
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : kalamosbo...@gmail.com
(or) kalamos...@aol.com
www.kalamosbooks.com