Commission Decision

of 27 April 2007

on the clearance of the accounts of the paying agencies in Hungary and Malta concerning expenditure financed by the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), Guarantee Section, for the 2005 financial year

(notified under document number C(2007) 1894)

(Only the English and Hungarian texts are authentic)

(2007/326/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1258/1999 of 17 May 1999 on the financing of the common agricultural policy [1], and in particular Article 7(3) thereof,

After consulting the Fund Committee,

Whereas:

(1) Commission Decisions 2006/322/EC [2] cleared, for the 2005 financial year, the accounts of all the paying agencies except for the German paying agency "Bayern-Umwelt", the Italian paying agency "AGEA", the Luxembourg paying agency "Ministère de l'Agriculture", the Hungarian paying Agency "ARDA", the Portuguese paying agency "IFADAP" and the Maltese paying agency "MRAE".

(2) Following the transmission of new information by Hungary and Malta, and after additional checks, the Commission can now take a decision on the integrality, accuracy and veracity of the accounts submitted by the Hungarian paying agency "ARDA" and the Maltese paying agency "MRAE".

(3) In accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1258/1999, this Decision does not prejudice decisions adopted subsequently by the Commission excluding from Community financing expenditure not effected in accordance with Community rules,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The accounts of the Hungarian paying agency "ARDA" and the Maltese paying agency "MRAE" concerning expenditure financed by the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), Guarantee Section, in respect of the 2005 financial year are hereby cleared.

The amounts which are recoverable from, or payable to, each of the Member States concerned pursuant to this Decision are set out in Annex I.

The amounts which are recoverable from, or payable to, each Member State pursuant to this Decision in the field of rural development measures applicable in Hungary and Malta are set out in Annex II and Annex III.

Article 2

This Decision is addressed to the Republic of Hungary and the Republic of Malta.

Done at Brussels, 27 April 2007.

For the Commission

Mariann Fischer Boel

Member of the Commission

[1] OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 103.

[2] OJ L 118, 3.5.2006, p. 20.

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ANNEX I

CLEARANCE OF THE PAYING AGENCIES' ACCOUNTS

Financial year 2005

Amount to be recovered from or paid to the Member State

(1) For the calculation of the amount to be recovered from or paid to the Member State the amount taken into account is the total of the annual declaration for the expenditure cleared (column "a").

(2) The reductions and suspensions are those taken into account in the advance system, to which are added in particular the corrections for the non-respect of payment deadlines established in August, September and October 2005.

MS | | 05070106 (ex-1a) | 05070108 (ex-1b) | Total (= g) |

| | h | i | j = h + i |

HU | HUF | 18049264,00 | 0,00 | 18049264,00 |

MT | MTL | ‘�,08 | 0,00 | ‘�,08 |

(3) Nomenclature 2007: 05070106, 05070108

MS | | 2005 ‘�Expenditure for the Paying Agencies for which the accounts are | Total a + b | Reductions and suspensions for the whole financial year | Total including reductions and suspensions | Advances paid to the Member State for the financial year | Amount to be recovered from (‘� or paid to (+) the Member State [1] |

cleared | disjoined |

= expenditure declared in the annual declaration | = total of the expenditure in the monthly declarations |

| | a | b | c = a + b | d | e = c + d | f | g = e ‘�f |

HU | HUF | 127456066798,00 | 0,00 | 127456066798,00 | ‘�0699420,33 | 127445367377,67 | 127427318113,67 | 18049264,00 |

MT | MTL | 372669,93 | 0,00 | 372669,93 | 0,00 | 372669,93 | 372670,01 | ‘�,08 |

[*] Applicable exchange rate: Article 7(2) of the Regulation (EC) No 883/2006.

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ANNEX II

CLEARANCE OF THE PAYING AGENCIES' ACCOUNTS

Financial year 2005 ‘�Rural Development Expenditure in New Member States

Amount to be recovered from or paid to the Member State

MS | | Expenditure for the Paying Agencies for which the accounts are | Total a + b | Reductions | Total | Interim Payments reimbursed to the Member State for the financial year | Amount to be recovered from (‘� or paid to (+) the Member State [1] |

cleared | disjoined |

= expenditure declared in the annual declaration | = total of Interim Payments reimbursed to the Member State for the financial year |

| | a | b | c = a + b | d | e = c + d | f | g = e ‘�f |

HU | EUR | 37272434,19 | 0,00 | 37272434,19 | 0,00 | 37272434,19 | 0,00 | 37272434,19 |

MT | EUR | 6464227,06 | 0,00 | 6464227,06 | 0,00 | 6464227,06 | 6295789,00 | 168438,06 |

MS | Advances paid but still to be cleared for the programme implementation (Article 32 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999) |

HU | EUR | 96368000,00 |

MT | EUR | 4304000,00 |

[*] HUThe amount has already been paid on 13.12.2005 as a part of the first interim payment (GFO.1514).MTThe amount has already been paid on 25.11.2005 as third interim payment (GFO.1471) and on 23.10.2006 as a part of a fourth interim payment (GFO.1890).

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ANNEX III

CLEARED EXPENDITURE BY RD MEASURE FOR EXERCISE 2005

Differences between annual accounts and declarations of expenditure

HUNGARY

No | Measure | Expenditure 2005 Annex II column "a" | Reductions Annex II column "d" | Amount cleared 2005 Annex II column "e" |

1 | Agri-environment | 0,00 | 0,00 | 0,00 |

2 | Meeting standards | 0,00 | 0,00 | 0,00 |

3 | Afforestation | 4343744,56 | 0,00 | 4343744,56 |

4 | Support for semi-substance farms | 564667,97 | 0,00 | 564667,97 |

5 | Producer groups | 354984,16 | 0,00 | 354984,16 |

6 | Early retirement | 0,00 | 0,00 | 0,00 |

7 | Less Favourite Areas | 0,00 | 0,00 | 0,00 |

8 | Technical assistance | 846976,51 | 0,00 | 846976,51 |

9 | Project approved under Regulation (EC) No 1268/1999 | 0,00 | 0,00 | 0,00 |

10 | Complementary national direct payments | 31162060,99 | 0,00 | 31162060,99 |

| Total | 37272434,19 | 0,00 | 37272434,19 |

MALTA

No | Measure | Expenditure 2005 Annex II column "a" | Reductions Annex II column "d" | Amount cleared 2005 Annex II column "e" |

1 | Less Favourite Areas | 1778458,24 | 0,00 | 1778458,24 |

2 | Agri-environment | 523444,29 | 0,00 | 523444,29 |

3 | Meeting standards | 153708,96 | 0,00 | 153708,96 |

4 | Producer groups | 0,00 | 0,00 | 0,00 |

5 | Technical assistance | 4795,27 | 0,00 | 4795,27 |

6 | State Aid complement | 1620000,00 | 0,00 | 1620000,00 |

7 | Ad hoc measure | 2383820,30 | 0,00 | 2383820,30 |

| Total | 6464227,06 | 0,00 | 6464227,06 |

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