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Kallas wins deal to unveil EU farm subsidy secrets |
The Finnish presidency won agreement from member
states’ permanent representatives for full transparency over the end
beneficiaries of all EU funds, including the Union’s annual €60
billion spending on farm subsidies, although France will not publish its data
until 2009.
The decision represents a major victory for Siim Kallas,
the administrative affairs commissioner, who first called for full disclosure
of recipients’ names and how much they receive in early 2005.
“I’m extremely pleased. This is a big step in a short
period,” he told European Voice.
Mariann Fischer Boel, the farming comissioner, welcomed the
greater transparency over the recipients of farm payments. “It’s
taxpayers’ money and they have the right to know what it’s being
spent on,” she said.
The deal forms just one element of a package of changes to
the EU’s spending rules, the financial regulation. But finance ministers
are expected to endorse the transparency agreement at their 28 November
meeting, when they are to approve the entire package.
The changes to the financial regulation also have to be
approved by the European Parliament. German centre-right MEP Inge Grässle, who
is to draft Parliament’s opinion, said MEPs fully backed the Council of
Ministers’ decision which she called an “important milestone for EU
subsidies”. “When we have the results we will have a close look at
European programmes,” she said, adding that it was important that all
member states provided the same information about end recipients.
Jack Thurston of pressure group Farmsubsidy.org, which has
been campaigning for disclosure, welcomed the decision but expressed concern
about the delay in publishing details and the “wiggle room” member
states would have in what information they disclosed. He said it was
“bizarre” that the review of all EU spending in 2008-09 would be
done before there was full transparency over who receives funds. “The
review will be done in the dark,” he said.
Farm spending transparency is expected to increase pressure
for reform of EU agricultural policies as around 80% of subsidies is estimated
to go to just 20% of farmers and farm businesses. British sugar multinational
Tate & Lyle received €480 million in 2004 – the largest single
payment in the UK that year.
The deal in Council was reached after Germany dropped its
opposition to the initiative in late September and France agreed to back it
provided it would only have to start publishing data in 2009 on payments made
in the 2008 budget year.
A French official said that the request for the delay was
to ensure the government had complete figures, taking account of net balances
and advances.
Thirteen states publish some data but several countries
including Finland are expected to start providing recipients’ details
before 2009. Farmsubsidy.org only gives four countries a ‘good’
rating for disclosure (Denmark, Sweden, Slovenia and the Netherlands) with
seven providing partial information, eight providing no information at all and
five denying requests for information under national transparency rules.
From European Voice 26 October
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