GERMANY’S BIGGEST VINEYARD TOLD TO REPAY EURO 500,000 IN ILLEGAL SUBSIDIES
May 1st, 2008
BY KEITH NUTHALL
GERMANY'S largest vineyard has been ordered by the European Commission to repay Euro 541,859 in illegal subsidies handed out by its owner - the regional government of Hesse. Following a detailed investigation, Brussels has concluded that the writing off of losses made by Hessische Staatsweingüter until December 2002 broke European Union (EU) state aid rules and so must be repaid, with interest. From that time, the vineyard has been run by an autonomous company the Hessische Staatsweingüter GmbH Kloster Eberbach, which leases its land and other ...
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