The European commission has ordered Italy to repay €720,000 (£615,000) used by Naples authorities to pay for an Elton John concert last year.
The concert, part of the Piedigrotta festival in September 2009, was funded in part using money from a €2.25m grant to promote regional development.
The affair was brought to light by Mario Borghezio, a member of the European parliament from the federalist Northern League party.
A European commission spokesman, Ton van Lierop, said today that a letter had been sent to the Italian authorities "asking them to reimburse, so pay back, the €720,000 from EU funding from the European regional development fund used for this concert".
"Cultural events, culture in general, can fall under the scope of operational programmes, but they have to be aimed at structural long-term investments," he said.
The concert drew a crowd of 100,000 and was broadcast live on state TV. Dario Scalabrini, the festival's artistic director, said the event was meant to promote the Naples area and did just that.
The Guardian
