There is a well known saying, 'no pain, no gain' and that will be ringing true in the minds of Milk Link’s 1,600 producers, who are on the brink of reaping just reward for 12 years of loyalty and investment.EU auditors ‘inhuman and immoral’
EU farm auditors have been blasted as ‘inhuman and immoral’ and in danger of undermining faith in Europe, by Farmers Union of Wales president, Gareth Vaughan.
Speaking today during a farm visit in Powys, he said each year the FUW dealt with scores of cases where penalties had been applied to members’ businesses by Welsh Assembly Government officials.
“These are often a result of individuals making innocent and inconsequential errors, sometimes as a result of exceptional circumstances, such as severe illness or family tragedy,” he added.
“But these penalties result in financial losses that compound what are often tragic family circumstances.”
Mr Vaughan said he had no objection to penalising businesses for genuine reasons where individuals had acted irresponsibly or fraudulently, but blamed EU auditors for the Assembly’s harsh interpretation of EU rules.
“WAG officials live in a climate of fear, generated by the threat that EU auditors will find fault with a decision, irrespective of any moral justification, resulting in Wales having to pay millions in fines to Europe, known as ‘disallowance’,” said Mr Vaughan.
“In many of these cases all parties acknowledge that the circumstances are exceptional, and that the penalty is effectively immoral.
“Yet officials claim that EU regulations make no allowance for extreme conditions, and that penalties must therefore be applied in order to avoid the auditors imposing massive fines.”
He hit out specifically at a recent hike in cross compliance penalties imposed following auditors’ recommendations.
“Rather than recognising the very shaky moral ground that they occupy, the auditors have added to injury by insisting that fines must be increased.
“This completely inhuman attitude to genuine errors and situations arising as a result of human tragedies is morally indefensible, and completely undermines any faith in the EU being a proportionate and fair institution.”
Mr Vaughan has already discussed the union’s concerns with EU officials and has asked Assembly Rural Affairs Minister, Elin Jones, for a meeting to discuss the issues.
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Readers' comments (6)
Anonymous | 30 December 2009 7:33 pm
I wish scotland had a farmers union like the FUW .
Congratulations on the above statement and on the recent comment on the distribution of emergency EU dairy aid .
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Peter Clarke | 31 December 2009 1:41 pm
Glad to hear that there is at least one other who is fighting this attitude. The fact that seems to be missed by those making the rules is that this type of draconian action does cause severe depression and can cause suicide. FEAR AND INTIMIDATION appear to be the aim of these bureaucrats.
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Neil Harland | 31 December 2009 5:36 pm
Well done Gareth Vaughan! I lost a whole year's SAPs and was given a titbit of HLCA payment the year after my father died, who until that time, had filled in all the forms. I followed the verbal advice of a MAFF official and was penalised for it! Since then all communication between myself and DEFRA has been in written form resulting in sometimes DEFRA officials refusing to answer questions because they were too afraid to commit to ruling on their own advice.
It's time these faceless buearocrats were named and shamed. It's a shame but actions like these create a 'them and us' attitude out of a Ministry that we really should get on with!
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Richard Mawdsley | 1 January 2010 0:36 am
A triplicate book is a useful weapon. The 'Official' must write down his verbal instruction/order, then date it and sign it. He keeps a copy, you have a copy and the third one stays in the book.
They don't like to take responsibility that is directly traceable.
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Jon Weston | 4 January 2010 1:08 am
An animal movement book had slipped down between 2 filing cabinets - when Defra came to check it was unavailable, cost us 4 years payments + interest on past payments even though they had been validated. They all make mistakes everyday, but that's alright as they were 'acting on information supplied'. I support the view of a triplicate book. Crooks the lot of them.
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Roger Cooper | 6 January 2010 12:36 pm
I am a member of the the English Democrats party in England, who would like Britian to come out of the EU. We totally support the Welsh farmers and the unjust treatment handed out by the EU. I wonder if they treat the French farmers in this way? Its about time we stood up our all of our farmers in these Isles who are our greatest asset.
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