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EU farm chief urges Scottish Government to get subsidy payments out

The Scotch Whisky Association is joining a trade mission to Canada led by European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan.
The Scotch Whisky Association is joining a trade mission to Canada led by European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan.

EU farm chief Phil Hogan says there is no reason why the Scottish Government cannot get payments out to farmers early.

Speaking to a group of European journalists in Ireland, the European Agriculture Commissioner was keen to encourage governments in all member states to take advantage of measures to pay farmers up to 70% of their subsidy monies from October 16.

The measures, which will enable a proportion of direct payments to be paid early provided administrative checks have been carried out, are part of the European Commission’s aid package announced earlier this month.

“The 500million euro aid package isn’t just about money – it’s about cash flow and bringing forward immediate payments to the value of 70%,” said Mr Hogan.

“There is no reason why they [Scottish Government] cannot make direct payments earlier because we have removed the necessity for on the spot inspections.”

When asked what he thought about Scots farm minister’s Richard Lochhead’s claims that getting payments out in December could be hindered by on-the-farm inspections, Mr Hogan questioned the notion of having no inspections.

He said there was no way taxpayers money could be given to anyone without necessary checks being carried out.

The commissioner was also keen to stress that farmers need to realise that the allocation of 500million euros of funds was significant at a time when the European Commission was having to spend more than 9billion euros on the refugee crisis.

“There are a lot of competing issues for finance at the moment,” said Mr Hogan.

In future a high-level group would be set up to look at how the sector could be helped and how issues in the food supply chain could be resolved, he added.