Elton John gig in Italy probed by EU over funding

The European Commission says it wants to know why Italian officials spent 720,000 euros of EU cash on a concert by Sir Elton John last year.

"We're asking the managing authority about this. We want to know why they think it fits in with the rules," the Commission's regional policy spokesman Ton van Lierop said.

The expenditure only recently came to light, he told the BBC News.

The concert was part of the Piedigrotta festival in Naples in September 2009.

A right-wing Italian Euro MP, Mario Borghezio of the Northern League party, called it a "shameful" misuse of EU funds by the Campania regional authority.

The Commission does not know how much was paid to Sir Elton John for the gig, Mr Van Lierop said.

Cultural projects can be co-financed by the Commission and regional authorities in the EU, he explained, "but we want to know why this concert benefited this region."