INVITATION – PRESS BRIEFING: Has the EU support to the food-processing industry been effective and efficient in adding value to agricultural products?

EUROPEAN COURT OF AUDITORS

Luxembourg, 3-4-2013 — /europawire.eu/ — Under the CAP, EU rural development policy grants are made available to enterprises that process and market agricultural products through a measure called ‘Adding value to agricultural and forestry products’ that aims to improve the competitiveness of agriculture and forestry. The EU budget has earmarked € 5.6 billion in aid for 2007-2013. This financing is complemented by national spending, which brings the total public funding to € 9.0 billion.

European Court of Auditors (ECA) special reports are published throughout the year, presenting the results of selected audits of specific EU budgetary areas or management topics.

This special report is entitled “Has the EU support to the food-processing industry been effective and efficient in adding value to agricultural products?” The ECA examined whether the measure was designed and implemented in a way that provided for the efficient funding of projects addressing clearly identified needs and whether the measure was monitored and evaluated in a way that allowed its results to be demonstrated.

The EU auditors examined projects in Spain, France, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and Romania.

The main conclusions and recommendations of the report will be presented to the press by Mr Jan Kinšt, Member of the Court.
DATE AND TIME Wednesday, 10 April 2013 at 10:30

VENUE The RESIDENCE PALACE – International Press Centre
MAALBEEK ROOM
155, rue de la Loi, 1040 Brussels – Belgium

A PRESS KIT, consisting of the Special Report and a press release, will be made available for the press briefing. The Special Report will be published on the Court’s website, www.eca.europa.eu, in 22 official languages.

INTERPRETATION will be available in French and English.