According to several Dutch newspapers, The Hague lied to Brussels a few years ago when it reported that "it was not known whether a previously reported irregularity also occurred elsewhere," while it was already known that a disputed management fee had been applied for by farmers in multiple Dutch municipalities.
Last month it was reported that Dutch farmers abused European schemes by applying for subsidies for environmentally friendly land management on plots they did not own or for which they had no lease contracts. This reportedly included mowing roadside verges. Even plots belonging to nature organizations were allegedly registered with Brussels by these farmers.
The Dutch Ministry of Agriculture and several agricultural organizations pointed out last week that in such cases it usually involves "informal" management agreements between farmers and landowners.
Dutch news media now report that as early as 2017 Brussels had requested clarification about such a case. The Ministry of Agriculture then lied to the European Commission about the extent of the fraud, claims investigative journalism platform Investico. The claim is based on an internal email exchange that Investico recently obtained under the Open Government Act (WOO).
It appears that the European Commission had suspicions about the fraud. Subsequently, Brussels demanded that the Dutch government guarantee that subsidies were lawful, under threat of repayment. In 2018, the ministry tried to downplay the problem and denied that fraud was involved.
The European Commission says it has not yet seen the emails but takes the case seriously and will request more information from the Dutch government. Brussels has reiterated that EU countries themselves are responsible for complying with EU regulations and for overseeing that compliance.
Outgoing Agriculture Minister Piet Adema did not wish to respond in the Dutch parliament on Thursday to reports that his officials had misled Brussels or deliberately lied; he said he first wants to investigate how the controls on applying for those management subsidies were carried out.