The European Union still cannot prevent abuse of EU agricultural subsidies. Some countries refuse to provide access to their administration, and there are also gaps in the accounting systems in Brussels.
The budget control committee of the European Parliament criticizes the growth of "oligarchic structures" in some EU countries, "on an unprecedented scale."
MEPs are particularly concerned that the EU in practice can only "very limitedly" control the allocation of subsidies from Brussels. This is mainly due to a lack of cooperation between national authorities and inconsistent reporting.
Currently, there are 292 reporting systems for the EU agricultural and cohesion funds. This large number makes it difficult to get an overview of the recipients and the amount of EU funds paid to them.
The unequal payment of EU agricultural funds in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania is also described as "very problematic." The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is cited as a concrete example. He is accused of distributing agricultural subsidies to his ‘inner circle,’ his political and business cronies.
The AGRI agricultural committee of the European Parliament responds approvingly to the proposal of their BUDG audit colleagues to annually inventory the fifty largest recipients of CAP subsidies per EU country. And EU countries could initiate many more prosecutions against notorious abusers, the EU politicians believe.
EU accountants are also advised to keep track of who the ‘end users’ of subsidies are. This would make it possible to show whether subsidies end up with landowners or corporate boards, or on the farmyard. According to the AGRI commentary, there is still much room for improvement in this area.