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Farmers in Poland are most likely to cheat when applying for direct EU payments, writes Rzeczpospolita, which adds that sometimes those frauds are committed ‘unknowingly’ as not all farmers are aware of the binding restrictions and regulations regarding EU subsidies.
According to the prosecutor’s office, cases of fraud involving EU funds for the agricultural sector increased over last two years from 1500 in 2011 to 1812 in 2012. Common irregularities include inflating the acreage of the fields and forgery of documents, notes the daily.
In 2007-2013 Poland received €35bn from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget. According to Rzeczpospolita,
In spite of the rising statistics, Poland is not among the worst offenders when it comes to cheating the EU. The situation observed in Italy, Romania and Bulgaria is much worse.
