Here, the Danish Agency for Agriculture receives four applications for support from the same owner / owners.
Both the then Minister for the Environment and Food, Esben Lunde Larsen (V) and the agricultural organization Landbrug & Fødevare will then appear in the process until the four applications are approved the following year.
Read how the Minister and the agricultural organization followed the applications on their way to an approval:
* In August 2016, the Danish Agency for Agriculture receives four applications with the same “underlying ownership” with a view to reaching four times the subsidy of seven million from the scheme “Modernization of finisher stables 2016.”
* In October of the same year, the agency concludes in a draft decision that no subsidy can be given because it will be an attempt to circumvent the support ceiling of seven million kroner. Thus, there was a suspicion of attempts to circumvent the rules.
* According to the Danish Agency for Agriculture, the EU Commission still agrees with this assessment to this day.
* February 2017 a new legal assessment will be made. It shows that grants can be given well.
The assessment turned out differently because there was uncertainty as to whether the emphasis should be placed on CVR numbers or circle of owners, and that there was not sufficient reason to speak of an “actual circumvention” of the rules.
* Rigsrevisionen writes about the case processing:
According to a unit in the Danish Agency for Agriculture, the applications received a great deal of attention from the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Minister for the Environment and Food (Esben Lunde Larsen, ed.)
– At the same time, it appears from the correspondence that the four applications were to be discussed with Agriculture & Food, L&F, at a meeting shortly after.
– The Danish Agency for Agriculture has not been able to explain the case to the National Audit Office, and there is no minutes from the meeting.
* In March 2017, an employee of the board writes in preparation for a meeting with Esben Lunde Larsen that “L&F has a special focus” on how many of the applications were approved.
In addition, the employee is dressed to give the Minister an update on what the status of the four applications is.
* In July 2017, a memorandum states that there is disagreement in the Danish Agency for Agriculture on the legal assessment from March.
– Parts of the Danish Agency for Agriculture were of the opinion that the decision to grant a commitment to the four companies did not include several relevant matters regarding circumvention, which could have led to the rejection of the grant applications, writes Rigsrevisionen.
* Parts of the Danish Agency for Agriculture also feared that an audit would override the eligibility of the four applications for support.
* In a telephone note from November 2017, it appears that the Danish Agency for Agriculture informs the Ministry of the Environment and Food by telephone that the applications were received at the meeting in March 2017 “after pressure from Agriculture & Food”.
Source: State Auditors’ Report Box 3.
Source: The Nordic Page