EU tells Greece to repay farm budget 350 mln euros

Greece has been told to repay about 350 million euros ($495 million) of European Union farm subsidies after it failed to follow EU spending rules, the European Commission said on Friday.

Greece failed to correctly apply the "land parcel identification system" for calculating area-based subsidies to farmers in 2006, the Commission said, and its payment control systems were also found to be deficient.

Friday's decision brought the total amount of EU farm subsidies reclaimed from Greece since 1999 to 1.78 billion euros — the most for any EU member state.

"We are working hard to achieve the best possible control of farm spending in order to verify that taxpayers' money is not being misspent," EU Agriculture Commission Dacian Ciolos said.

Romania must repay 41.7 million euros for similar failures in its area-based payments and control systems, while Portugal will have to hand back about 40 million euros, the Commission said.

In total, 19 EU countries must pay back about 580 million euros in misspent funds, the Commission added.

All the money repaid by governments will be returned to the EU budget.