Address https://gelex.eu/eli/EU/decision/2018/794@2018-05-28/en

Contents

1. Preamble
2. 1. Article 1
   2. Article 2
   3. Article 3
   4. Article 4
3. ANNEX
4. ANNEX I CLEARANCE OF THE PAYING AGENCIES' ACCOUNTS Amount to be recovered from or paid to the Member State (1)(2)NB: FINANCIAL YEAR 2017
5. ANNEX II CLEARANCE OF THE PAYING AGENCIES' ACCOUNTS List of the Paying Agencies for which the accounts are disjoined and are subject of a later clearance decision FINANCIAL YEAR 2017 — EAGF
6. ANNEX III CLEARANCE OF THE PAYING AGENCIES' ACCOUNTS Corrections according to Article 54(2) of Regulation (EU) 1306/2013 FINANCIAL YEAR 2017 — EAGF

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 352/78, (EC) No 165/94, (EC) No 2799/98, (EC) No 814/2000, (EC) No 1290/2005 and (EC) No 485/2008, and in particular Article 51 thereof,

After consulting the Committee on the Agricultural Funds,

Whereas:

(1) Pursuant to Article 51 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, the Commission, on the basis of the annual accounts submitted by the Member States, accompanied by the information required for the clearance of accounts and an audit opinion regarding the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the accounts and the reports established by the certification bodies, has to clear the accounts of the paying agencies referred to in Article 7 of that Regulation.

(2) In accordance with Article 39 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 the agricultural financial year begins on 16 October of year N – 1 and ends on 15 October of year N. When clearing the accounts for financial year 2017, account should be taken of expenditure incurred by the Member States between 16 October 2016 and 15 October 2017, as provided for in Article 11(1) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 908/2014.

(3) The first subparagraph of Article 33(2) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 908/2014 provides that the amounts that are recoverable from, or payable to, each Member State, in accordance with the accounts clearance decision referred to in Article 33(1) of that Regulation, are to be determined by deducting the monthly payments for the financial year in question, i.e. 2017, from expenditure recognised for that year in accordance with Article 33(1). The Commission is to deduct that amount from or add it to the monthly payment relating to the expenditure effected in the second month following the clearance of accounts decision.

(4) The Commission has checked the information submitted by the Member States and has communicated the results of its checks to the Member States before 30 April 2018, along with the necessary amendments.

(5) For certain paying agencies, the annual accounts and the accompanying documents permit the Commission to take a decision on the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the annual accounts submitted.

(6) The information submitted by certain other paying agencies requires additional inquiries and their accounts cannot therefore be cleared in this Decision.

(7) In accordance with Article 5(5) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 907/2014, any overrun of deadlines during August, September and October is to be taken into account in the clearance of accounts decision. Some of the expenditure declared by certain Member States during these months in 2017 was effected after the applicable deadlines. This Decision should therefore fix the relevant reductions.

(8) Pursuant to Article 41 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, the Commission has already reduced or suspended a number of monthly payments for financial year 2017 due to failure to comply with financial ceilings or payment deadlines, or due to control system deficiencies. In adopting this Decision, the Commission should take into account the amounts reduced or suspended in order to avoid making all inappropriate, or untimely, payments or reimbursing amounts which could later be subject to financial correction. The amounts in question may be further examined, where appropriate, under conformity clearance proceedings pursuant to Article 52 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013.

(9) Pursuant to Article 54(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, 50 % of the financial consequences of non-recovery of irregularities should be borne by the Member State concerned, if recovery has not taken place within four years from the date of the recovery request, or within eight years where the recovery is taken before the national courts. Article 54(4) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 requires Member States to attach to the annual accounts that they have to submit to the Commission pursuant to Article 29 of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 908/2014 a certified table reflecting the amounts to be borne by them under Article 54(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013. Rules on the application of the Member States' obligation to report the amounts to be recovered are laid down in Implementing Regulation (EU) No 908/2014. Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 908/2014 sets out the model of the table that Member States have to use to provide information about amounts to be recovered. On the basis of the tables completed by the Member States, the Commission should decide on the financial consequences of non-recovery of irregularities older than four or eight years respectively.

(10) Pursuant to Article 54(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, on duly justified grounds, Member States may decide not to pursue recovery. Such a decision may be taken only if the costs already, and likely to be, incurred total more than the amount to be recovered or if the recovery proves impossible owing to the insolvency, recorded and recognised under national law, of the debtor or the persons legally responsible for the irregularity. If the decision has been taken within four years of the primary administrative or judicial finding or within eight years where the recovery is taken to the national courts, 100 % of the financial consequences of the non-recovery should be borne by the Union budget. The amounts for which the Member State decided not to pursue recovery and the grounds for the decision are shown in the summary report referred to in Article 54(4) in conjunction with point (c)(iv) of Article 102(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013. Therefore, such amounts should not be charged to the Member States concerned and are consequently borne by the Union budget.

(11) Reductions according to Article 54(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 presented in Annex I (column e) relate to the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF). The amounts to be charged to the Member States, as a result of the application of Article 54(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 in relation to the Temporary Rural Development Instrument (TRDI) funded by the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) are presented in Annex III.

(12) In accordance with Article 51 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, this Decision is without prejudice to the decisions the Commission may take subsequently to exclude from Union financing expenditure not effected in accordance with Union rules,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

With the exception of the paying agencies referred to in Article 2, the accounts of the Member States' paying agencies concerning expenditure financed by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) in respect of financial year 2017, are hereby cleared. The amounts recoverable from, or payable to, each Member State pursuant to this Decision, including those resulting from the application of Article 54(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, are set out in Annexes I and III to this Decision.

Article 2

For financial year 2017, the accounts of the Member States' paying agencies in respect of expenditure financed by the EAGF, as set out in Annex II, are not covered by this Decision and shall be the subject of a future clearance of accounts decision.

Article 3

This Decision is without prejudice to future conformity clearance decisions that the Commission may take pursuant to Article 52 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 to exclude from Union financing expenditure not effected in accordance with Union rules.

Article 4

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 28 May 2018. For the Commission Phil Hogan Member of the Commission

ANNEX

ANNEX I CLEARANCE OF THE PAYING AGENCIES' ACCOUNTS Amount to be recovered from or paid to the Member State (1)(2)NB: FINANCIAL YEAR 2017

MS 2017 — Expenditure / Assigned Revenue for the Paying Agencies for which the accounts are Total a + b Reductions and suspensions for the whole financial year (1) Reductions according to Article 54(2) of Regulation (EU) 1306/2013 Total including reductions and suspensions Payments made to the Member State for the financial year Amount to be recovered from (–) or paid to (+) the Member State (2) cleared disjoined = expenditure / assigned revenue declared in the annual declaration = total of the expenditure / assigned revenue in the monthly declarations a b c = a + b d e f = c + d + e g h = f – g BE EUR 588102324,63 0,00 588102324,63 0,00 – 991,56 588101333,07 588546187,63 – 444854,56 BG EUR 797281214,01 0,00 797281214,01 – 17389,41 0,00 797263824,60 798086440,51 – 822615,91 CZ CZK 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 – 8342,14 – 8342,14 0,00 – 8342,14 CZ EUR 854448923,01 0,00 854448923,01 0,00 0,00 854448923,01 854448923,20 – 0,19 DK DKK 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 – 164574,66 – 164574,66 0,00 – 164574,66 DK EUR 858708631,07 0,00 858708631,07 0,00 0,00 858708631,07 858670732,41 37898,66 DE EUR 5030903943,84 0,00 5030903943,84 – 6977,89 – 45644,72 5030851321,24 5027999451,51 2851869,72 EE EUR 124071973,61 0,00 124071973,61 0,00 – 16983,75 124054989,86 123977546,02 77443,84 IE EUR 1229287920,82 0,00 1229287920,82 – 95679,67 – 43841,63 1229148399,52 1228321811,74 826587,78 EL EUR 2074885739,79 0,00 2074885739,79 – 20843,71 – 1821898,16 2073042997,92 2074864896,08 – 1821898,16 ES EUR 5436124554,19 2768594,78 5438893148,97 – 2239204,13 – 2159384,45 5434494560,39 5437757758,27 – 3263197,88 FR EUR 7177885922,21 310949997,08 7488835919,29 – 184123288,02 – 91535,53 7304621095,74 7308565960,41 – 3944864,67 HR EUR 208140268,86 0,00 208140268,86 – 84515,74 0,00 208055753,12 208189461,36 – 133708,24 IT EUR 4310772062,39 0,00 4310772062,39 – 93059323,84 – 1812362,90 4215900375,65 4249111348,36 – 33210972,71 CY EUR 55777706,48 0,00 55777706,48 – 35861,66 0,00 55741844,82 55730155,42 11689,40 LV EUR 217990354,60 0,00 217990354,60 – 181,15 – 6247,62 217983925,83 217993173,12 – 9247,29 LT EUR 443325522,51 0,00 443325522,51 – 71548,65 – 374,27 443253599,59 443272271,92 – 18672,33 LU EUR 34473355,85 0,00 34473355,85 0,00 0,00 34473355,85 34401229,19 72126,66 HU HUF 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 – 68059521,50 – 68059521,50 0,00 – 68059521,50 HU EUR 1288054472,53 0,00 1288054472,53 – 4569620,93 0,00 1283484851,60 1284228855,44 – 744003,84 MT EUR 0,00 5317298,97 5317298,97 0,00 0,00 5317298,97 5317298,97 0,00 NL EUR 815897786,62 0,00 815897786,62 – 422705,99 0,00 815475080,63 815494995,16 – 19914,53 AT EUR 706529712,22 0,00 706529712,22 – 264876,95 0,00 706264835,27 706343282,70 – 78447,43 PL PLN 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 – 885655,91 – 885655,91 0,00 – 885655,91 PL EUR 3409425215,53 0,00 3409425215,53 – 3007191,14 0,00 3406418024,39 3406561289,51 – 143265,12 PT EUR 705330241,25 0,00 705330241,25 – 607631,63 – 1086013,11 703636596,51 704169188,62 – 532592,11 RO RON 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 – 491230,99 – 491230,99 0,00 – 491230,99 RO EUR 1775087767,15 0,00 1775087767,15 – 15068445,66 0,00 1760019321,49 1772508497,61 – 12489176,12 SI EUR 143152666,80 0,00 143152666,80 0,00 0,00 143152666,80 143152639,38 27,42 SK EUR 438421061,90 0,00 438421061,90 – 4578,15 – 33438,11 438383045,64 438416483,75 – 33438,11 FI EUR 537087368,44 0,00 537087368,44 – 2999,21 – 51789,44 537032579,79 537056724,90 – 24145,11 SE SEK 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 – 393612,02 – 393612,02 0,00 – 393612,02 SE EUR 707756620,41 0,00 707756620,41 – 4058311,47 0,00 703698308,94 703708425,10 – 10116,16 UK GBP 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 – 64111,45 – 64111,45 0,00 – 64111,45 UK EUR 3151920238,93 0,00 3151920238,93 – 29423486,72 0,00 3122496752,21 3127019638,34 – 4522886,13 The reductions and suspensions are those taken into account in the payment system, to which are added in particular the corrections for the non respect of payment deadlines established in August, September and October 2017 and other reductions in the context of Article 41 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013. For the calculation of the amount to be recovered from or paid to the Member State the amount taken into account is, the total of the annual declaration for the expenditure cleared (column a) or, the total of the monthly declarations for the expenditure disjoined (column b). Applicable exchange rate: Article 11(1) 1st subparagraph, 2nd sentence of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 907/2014. Nomenclature 2018: 05 07 01 06, 6701, 6702 MS Expenditure Assigned revenue Article 54(2) (= e) Total (= h) 05 07 01 06 6701 6702 i j k l = i + j + k BE EUR 0,00 – 443863,00 – 991,56 – 444854,56 BG EUR 0,00 – 822615,91 0,00 – 822615,91 CZ CZK 0,00 0,00 – 8342,14 – 8342,14 CZ EUR 0,00 – 0,19 0,00 – 0,19 DK DKK 0,00 0,00 – 164574,66 – 164574,66 DK EUR 37898,66 0,00 0,00 37898,66 DE EUR 2897514,44 0,00 – 45644,72 2851869,72 EE EUR 94427,59 0,00 – 16983,75 77443,84 IE EUR 870429,41 0,00 – 43841,63 826587,78 EL EUR 0,00 0,00 – 1821898,16 – 1821898,16 ES EUR 0,00 – 1103813,43 – 2159384,45 – 3263197,88 FR EUR 0,00 – 3853329,14 – 91535,53 – 3944864,67 HR EUR 0,00 – 133708,24 0,00 – 133708,24 IT EUR 0,00 – 31398609,81 – 1812362,90 – 33210972,71 CY EUR 11689,40 0,00 0,00 11689,40 LV EUR 0,00 – 2999,67 – 6247,62 – 9247,29 LT EUR 0,00 – 18298,06 – 374,27 – 18672,33 LU EUR 72126,66 0,00 0,00 72126,66 HU HUF 0,00 0,00 – 68059521,50 – 68059521,50 HU EUR 0,00 – 744003,84 0,00 – 744003,84 MT EUR 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 NL EUR 0,00 – 19914,53 0,00 – 19914,53 AT EUR 0,00 – 78447,43 0,00 – 78447,43 PL PLN 0,00 0,00 – 885655,91 – 885655,91 PL EUR 0,00 – 143265,12 0,00 – 143265,12 PT EUR 553421,00 0,00 – 1086013,11 – 532592,11 RO RON 0,00 0,00 – 491230,99 – 491230,99 RO EUR 0,00 – 12489176,12 0,00 – 12489176,12 SI EUR 27,42 0,00 0,00 27,42 SK EUR 0,00 0,00 – 33438,11 – 33438,11 FI EUR 114932,37 – 87288,04 – 51789,44 – 24145,11 SE SEK 0,00 0,00 – 393612,02 – 393612,02 SE EUR 0,00 – 10116,16 0,00 – 10116,16 UK GBP 0,00 0,00 – 64111,45 – 64111,45 UK EUR 0,00 – 4522886,13 0,00 – 4522886,13

ANNEX II CLEARANCE OF THE PAYING AGENCIES' ACCOUNTS List of the Paying Agencies for which the accounts are disjoined and are subject of a later clearance decision FINANCIAL YEAR 2017 — EAGF

Member State Paying Agency France FranceAgriMer Germany EU-Zahlstelle der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg Malta Agriculture and Rural Payments Agency Spain Fondo Español de Garantía Agraria

ANNEX III CLEARANCE OF THE PAYING AGENCIES' ACCOUNTS Corrections according to Article 54(2) of Regulation (EU) 1306/2013 FINANCIAL YEAR 2017 — EAGF

Member State Currency In National currency In Euro AT EUR BE EUR BG BGN CY EUR — — CZ CZK — — DE EUR DK DKK EE EUR — — ES EUR FI EUR FR EUR UK GBP EL EUR HR HRK HU HUF 9350125,00 — IE EUR IT EUR LT EUR — 45630,25 LU EUR LV EUR — 119855,63 MT EUR — — NL EUR PL PLN 641474,86 — PT EUR RO RON SE SEK SI EUR — — SK EUR — 481101,41

Versions

1. 2018-05-28