§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will propose in the Council of Finance Ministers that all sums fraudulently claimed and erroneously paid out by national Governments under EEC finance schemes will be charged direct to the administering national Government as opposed to being a charge on EEC funds to which other nations are required to contribute; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Ian Stewart[pursuant to his reply, 17 May 1984, c. 238]: I do not consider this proposal to be appropriate. My hon. Friend may have in mind recent reports of a milk-sector fraud in France. If a sum has been fraudulently claimed in the agricultural sector of the budget, the member state in which the fraud occurred is required to recover any monies wrongly paid. If the sum cannot be recovered and the irregularity of fraud is not attributable to negligence on the part of the relevant member state, the loss is borne as a charge on the Community Budget.