ORGANISATIONS in the North-East have been fined almost £50,000 for failing to display the European Union logo, triggering calls for the practice to be scrapped.

Both the One North East development agency and North Tyneside Council fell foul of rules requiring EU symbols to be shown if projects were funded with cash from Brussels.

Now Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, has called for the fines to be axed – accusing the EU of punishing public bodies for “minor breaches of over-complicated rules”.

But the European Commission hit back, accusing Mr Pickles of wrongly claiming the fines went to Brussels and of misleading the public by stating that the EU flag had to be displayed.

It insisted the rules merely required the EU logo to be displayed on a website, or on leaflets, and pointed out the fines were retained by the British Government to be reallocated to other projects.

A Commission spokeswoman said: “This is standard practice for other organisations, such as the National Lottery, and the fines are imposed by the British Government, following European rules.

“It’s not unusual for organisations to be required to acknowledge the source of their funds, and penalties are only imposed if they flagrantly fail to follow those rules.”

The two fines imposed in the North-East were: 􀁥 One North East – an inward investment project called International Trade and Support Services’ (£28,497); 􀁥 North Tyneside Council – refurbishment of Whitley Bay Playhouse (£16,450).

Across England, financial penalties of almost £500,000 have been imposed since 2000, on councils, museums, universities, travel firms and business groups.

Mr Pickles said: “It defies common sense that the EU can hammer public bodies with huge fines for merely not flying their flag.

“This is a prime example of bureaucracy taking over, with organisations being hit for the most minor breaches for overcomplicated rules.

“The end result is British taxpayers’ money being wasted on design guidelines, formfilling and millions of pounds of red tape. These fines should be axed.”

The fines relate to money given to the UK by the European Regional Development Fund, a vital source of finance which has pledged £324m to the region over seven years to 2013.

NETPark, in County Durham, and the Tees Valley Industrial Programme, to develop advanced manufacturing, are among the schemes that will benefit.

A row blew up earlier this year because One North East – the body that provides most of the match funding required – will be axed next year.

Labour raised fears that funding will dry up once responsibility is transferred to the Department for Communities and Local Government, which will lose 60 per cent of its budget by 2015.