Tough on Fraud, Not!

We are all aware that the CAP is a corrupt gravy train that misuses vast sums of our money to subsidize the least important sector of our economy. That in itself is worth complaining about. The abuse that goes hand in hand with free money should at least be something that we can all agree to curb. However... At least £1.8 billion paid in inflated claims to Europe's agro-industry has never been recovered by Brussels even after the exposure of the abuses, according to a report by the European Union's senior watchdog yesterday. Thats just the fraud that is known about. The European Commission, in the face of defiance from the EU's member states responsible for enforcing the rules, has retrieved just £380 million out of a total of £2.2 billion identified as "irregular payments". This money has been identified, what about all the rest? At a time when some quarters are calling for a bigger budget, we should not forget where the money they already have access to is going.