This is the type of corruption that President Trump should be investigating. However, we have to rely on a private business to do the research.
2
Nobody in the U.S. seems to be able to comprehend the deeply rooted feudal system that has existed in Eastern Europe for centuries. It's one of the reasons that Russia eventually had a violent revolution, but it persisted throughout communism and continues unchanged. A largely uneducated farming class is one hundred percent accustomed to having educated masters who act as miniature lords, "taking care" of the peasants. Whether these lords are Hungarian aristocrats, communist functionaries, or mafia-style mobsters, the laborers accept the social status quo of master and laborer. They have been conditioned to believe that the world is too complicated for them to deal with, and that they need someone to literally lord it over them. I've met these people all over in Hungarian villages. Friendly, uneducated, and dependent upon overlords. Centuries of a lack of education for the workers and a feudal system designed to have only two tiers of social classes, master and servant, is the biggest problem here. The EU was naive when it accepted Eastern European countries into the fold, although there were many warning voices. These countries do not have a history of democracy or an understanding of how it works. Relying upon individual states to sort out the distribution of funds is crazy if the EU wants fair distribution, but that's one of the drawbacks of a weak central government. It can't enforce accountability. This a lesson to Americans who want to weaken our federal government.
18
@Allison
The corruption isn't just in eastern European countries, you also have to look at the original member states who also benefit hugely from CAP. Whilst the EU says that these subsidies benefit small farmers, they mainly benefit large landowners and agri-businesses. These businesses were already raking in large subsidies before the eastern block joined the EU, and they have now expanded into the east, buying up land that is available at prices local small/medium sized farmers cannot hope to match. The EU sanctions all of this, knows it goes on but hides the truth, and fudges the figures.
This will never be resolved because France is a major beneficiary of the CAP and will always oppose even minor reform. Just as France always vetos the inclusion of agriculture in EU free trade agreements. It will be interesting to see if the Mercosur agreement is ratified by France. They are currently against the agreement because of the 'destruction of the rain forrest', that is the excuse, just as growth hormone in US agri products is the excuse for excluding agriculture from a EU-USA free trade agreement. How can these large subsidies be justified if you buy cheaper from the rest of the world? They can't, but the EU will find a way to do so, and continue to line the pockets of cronies and big business. After all it isn't their money, they don't have to account for it and have a very efficient propaganda machine to deflect criticism.
15
@Allison Yes, there was feudalism in Hungary for hundreds of years just like everywhere else in Europe! FYI they never imported African or First Nations slaves, á la the ‘great’ USA!! To say that this situation and the communist system that was wholly forced upon Hungary is in any way a by-product of some inherent flaw in the psychology of Eastern Europeans is deeply ignorant and offensive!!
1
@Jess
Excellent points !
If this is emblematic of how the EU runs, is it any wonder the Brexit movement grew so strong?
Jozsef Angyan is a hero who deserves his own article.
It's shameful that his sacrifice is buried in a story about the journalists' difficulty in getting politically-sensitive data. That difficulty comes with the job, but Jozsef Angyan sacrificing his livelihood should not come with speaking the truth.
The only thing preventing bullies from bullying is the notoriety that makes people avoid dealing with them at all.
The NY Times owes everyone who is punished for participating a full-throated defense of speaking for the truth, to ensure bullies cannot pretend to be strong or good when they use the full array of Stalinist bureaucratic cuts to destroy good people.
6
The last couple of paragraphs show what an authoritarian government is all about. Americans would be wise to heed its lessons.
3
The EU is not very different to the Mafia. Or a certain German movement in the late 30's and early 40's.
You either do it THEIR way, or it doesn't happen.
You must accept they know what's best, not you.
You must conform or you don't get their money.
You must not speak about fight club (just kidding).
The EU is a dictatorship, managed by narsistic egomaniacs and accountable to no one. Spend, spend, spend, that's the EU way.
And people ask why we in the UK voted to leave!
1
Corruption from the EU surprising, thought they were virtuous.
2
I don't know how this whole thing is handled in other countries in the European Union, but the data you seek is easily aviable for Germany:
www.agrar-fischerei-zahlungen.de
On this site, operated by the German ministry for food and agriculture, you can search for every recipient of farming subsidies in the country by entering a name and/or zip code. You can then see how much and for what they recieved money from the EU.
By the way: The biggest private recipiant of EU farming subsidies in Germany is a relatively big faming company that in 2018 had a turnover of about 2 billion € growing and selling fruit, vegetables, flowers and plants - they only got about 5,8 million € in subsidies last year. I highly doubt that those Hungarian friends of Orban you mentioned in your other article really got $28 million in EU farming subsidies alone. Most likely they/their companies got most of the $28 million via the EU fund for economic development in less developed regions (like Hungary) and not for farming - a fact you neglected to mention...
10
@mattapuzzo your persistence in getting to the bottom of it is what keeps democracy alive.
Whether it is corruption for money favoritism, nepotism or clientelism it undermines the liberal democracy we have upheld for over 100 years.
The tipping point is what happened with Brexit where Brits believed that too many resources were given to other countries with little in return. (Though the pro-Brexiters mentioned nothing about the opposite flow of money and resources).
Whether ciphering off money happens in Hungary, Czech Republic or Italy it pollutes the EU as a whole.
Liberal democracy is not something that our fathers and grand fathers died for and just handed to us - it is something we must protect and defend.
3
Obviously I would prefer millions not to go to Hungarian oligarchs. I would also prefer subsidies only going to family farmers. Unfortunately the article mentions at the end that may not be possible. In that case I would still prefer these subsidies, including money to oligarchs, rather than no subsidies to anyone, because the worst case for me is to have less European agriculture, and thus greater dependence on American agriculture.
1
@Quelqu'un Your subsidies block African agriculture as well as perhaps American agriculture, which you could block for scientific reasons if they are legitimate. Africa and other poor regions need the European market to sell to and grow. Instead the EU pays massive subsidies to its farmers and gives highly inefficient aid to Africa.
1
The key to making such a program protect the small producers that are the soul of the European table is basing this on headcount and not tonnage or acreage.
My palate tells me three to six times a day that mega agribusiness is bad for everyone from the bees to our babies.
2
By changing names,dates and places this could be a critique of the US farm subsidy system. Which is a transfer of public money to major agro-business operations, that also happen to pay large bribes/make big political donations to corrupt politicians.
7
@Philip Brown Chuttt.....!!!
So, evidence of corruption and bribery is hiding in plain sight; as I understand it, the EU might be 'quietly' trying to rectify matters, without destroying itself. As I understand it, Brexit is linked to the fact that the EU is going after off-shore accounts—which just happen to be located in former Commonwealth countries. It is all about the Oligarchs.
4
A great piece of investigative journalism. Sad that it's findings should be so appalling. Why isn't there insistence on the part of the EU for transparency for the overall scheme from national governments as a precondition to be eligible for the huge sums and root out corruption? We'll never have a perfect world, but I can't help wondering if the EU bureaucrats even feel any responsibility for rectifying the shameful corrupt activities resulting from their scheme. Understandably the authors have only been able to focus on part of the jigsaw. I wonder how many and which EU countries would refuse to make their allocations transparent and why.
2
The authors complain about EU officials holding back their data, but these authors appear to do the same thing here. We keeping reading about the 65 billion euro budget of these farm bills being 40% of the total EU annual budget. Where is similar essential data for the four or five rogue, EU-critical countries that these authors are investigating? How do we know the SIGNIFICANCE of this corruption without knowing what FRACTION of the 65 billion EU budget goes to these countries. (Data which the authors surely have.) The only data provided over these three articles are the 42 million euro to the Czech prime minister's associates and the 28 million to two Hungarian businessmen with relationships to Victor Orban - and that 80% of all EU farm subsidies go to the biggest 20% of agriculturalists across the EU (suggesting that there may be a widespread problem here). These euro amounts may sure seem like a lot, but millions are 1000-fold less than billions, of course. Which begs the question, how much money and potential for corruption, misappropriation and inefficiency is going to all the OTHER countries of the EU, who are not EU critics. One could imagine that the countries PROMOTING the EU might be more likely to be abusing these programs - they are surely getting the lion's share of the subsidies.
1
The more opaque the system, the more corruption it creates.
The curious part of it, both in Europe and the US, is that as the number of farmers decreases, the billions that go to farming increases. Between farm subsidy waste and defense overruns, we could save enough money to pay for most of health care for all. When you add the millions that corporations don't pay, the amount becomes huge. As Sen. Dirksen used to say: "A billion dollars here and a billion dollars there, pretty soon you are talking real money." Go get it.
5
I understand the NYT's self-image is that it is a white knight in the eternal pursuit of truth and justice, but that's just not the case. The NYT is closely tied to the American government and always has been. When its reporting on Europe is not inept, it is often biased. Since the American government is a ferocious defender of American agriculture, and a long-time critic of European practices, that alone justifies a certain amount of suspicion in European circles. I would certainly expect Europeans to take a very negative attitude if the NYT tried to do an exposé of Airbus - one wouldn't know where investigative journalism started and work for American interests ended.
With that said, the result of the reporting, while less important than the reporter makes out (the article was almost 90% about one country, Hungary), is still all to the good, and perhaps it might lead to positive change. For that, kudos.
3
Opaqueness ...so in the end imaginary knowledge influences European elections by voters misinformed.
“Le Canard Enchainé « ,a French weekly doing really high quality journalistically work ,digging in agribusiness.
3
Brexit anyone?
Brexiteers are going to love this one.
it is worth noting that a number of years ago the US Congress blocked the Environmental Working Group from looking at budget and other data to show the extent of u.s. subsidies to American agricultural business and farmers
21
Curious that seemingly none of the big European papers have picked up this story...
12
@Hammer
What big European papers do you read?
I recall reading about corrupt practices with EU farm subsidies in e.g. "Der Spiegel". That's a news magazine I read every week. I also heard about this issue on German public radio.
In a quick web search - in German - I found online articles on the subject from:
Der Spiegel - a big German news magazine
Süddeutsche Zeitung - a big German newspaper
Die Welt - a big German newspaper
Der Standard - a big Austrian newspaper
Neue Züricher Zeitung - a big Swiss newspaper
Seemingly you don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about...
4
@TD Yes. American ignorants just bragging....
Farm subsidies are a real swamp around the globe, even here in the United States. Farmers are able to tap into a romanticized version of what they once were to gain the political muscle they don't have in numbers. The modern grain farm (wheat, corn, soybeans, rice, etc) is a food factory incredibly efficient and productive and automated. It requires fewer and fewer "hands" to produce a ton of food and yet has an outsized influence on politics and budgets.
Who suffers? The consumer, not just in higher than necessary prices but also environmental destruction caused by overuse of insecticides and clean water pollution caused by farm runoff. Go by a dairy farm or pig farm with the windows open, it will turn your stomach.
7
@David
But there ARE real farmers and small-scale ranchers in this country. Industrialized and/or corporate farms make up only a tiny fraction of farms in America. But since most of these subsidies are based on acreage or yields, it's these agribusinesses and their suppliers that get the dough - and influence our legislators (as well as presidential candidates making promises in Iowa, our first-in-the-nation state that just happens to be tailor made for large-scale agriculture.)
8
I didn't learn anything about Euro Ag from this article.
3
@richard did you read the actual article written about european subsidy policy? This is just a secondary article discussing the experience of doing the reporting
6
@richard I'm guessing there'll be a book coming out shortly.
@richard Also what you mean you didn’t learn anything? Because you were already aware that the shadiness and fear pervade the system? I just don’t follow. Kind of a strange comment.
1
You did a great job and I hope it reaches the right people in Brüssel! Of course what happens in the agrarian division is probably only an example what is going on in similar ways in other areas. Very depressing for us Europeans! Ineffective, corrupt and hurting the small farmers, who should actually be the backbone of a healthy country life.
7
Wow. This is dynamite! Looking forward to see how this plays out in Lithuania and Poland where the same forces are at work: EU subsidies being used to finance political power. This is why the subscription to the NY Times is worth it, and in the best tradition of the time when the only trans-Europe newspaper was the International Herald-Tribune.
26
@Roger Evans
Not to rain on the parade, but do you not see a pro-EU agenda of the authors by the culprits in which they limit the article to? Don't you wonder why they aren't going after the big boys? Maybe it would just be too critical of the EU for this paper. But 65 billion is a lot of money from Brussels that, from what I understand, is somehow both loosely AND excessively administered. THIS needs to be examined, imo.
I wannabe an investigative journalist like you when I grow up. Or, more realistically, maybe my college kid will become one. If I were on the Pulitizer committee, I know what I'd be thinking right now. And I do wish that the Times would devote more of its resources to investigating and documenting corruption, wherever it is found instead of horse-race articles about the democratic contenders and all the articles about cooking. How about documenting the nearly $1 billion in unpaid fines that the DOB in NYC refuses to collect? Just one of a million possible examples of the need for more investigative reporting from local issues to international ones.
18
The EU could be reformed from within by organised + determined MEPs; by introducing some form of Participatory Democracy so that citizens can edit Parliament decisions; by encouraging Agrarian Cooperative ownership under Workers’ Democratic Control; by quality investigative reporting
Regards
5
This article, though interesting, has the touch of sensationalism because it focuses on relatively small recipient countries in the East and does not discuss the huge recipients elsewhere (like France, for example).
11
@Klaus Kastner -- sensationalism because it does NOT touch on larger countries in the E.U.?
1
@b fagan Sensationalism because the extent of critical reporting is not commensurate with the relative importance of the issue.
@Klaus Kastner
Exactly.
At the time Hungary was admitted to the EU its government at that time accepted a condition where price support in Western Europe was at least 3X (in case of France 5X) than in Hungary. That 3X is not the total amount, but per unit.
Armed with much higher price support, and aided by Brussels rules tha only richer agronomies could satify, agriculture from these riches countries proceeded to choke agriculture in Hungary. You buy butter in Hungary, it was most likely made in Germany.
I had a friend in Bungary who owned a vineyard (in the family for decades). He had to give it up because did not have the capital to equip his facilities to satisfy EU requirements.
1
Thank you very much, NYT, for this important article. It was overdue. And it shows that populism is not just about instigating the electorate with lies and empty promises for their own sake. It's about violent politicians relentlessly enriching themselves - actually, a new kind of antisocial counter-enlightenment, that I thought would have been finally overcome.
8
I found the companion story fascinating.
Yet, this behind-the-scenes look is even more intriguing, but not unfamiliar to me today.
On a much smaller scale (and without the benefit of a large entity with resources), I and a few other locals are pursuing this type of investigation in local small-town California politics. Where is the money going, who benefits, why so much money for so little, who funded this measure, and on and on. Writing scripts to get data, cross-referencing with information in official documents, reverse-engineering the practices to see how they line up with the promises, ... it's a long list of down-and-dirty work. I am deeply into an analysis right now and about to send the auditor a series of graphs that prove we are pursuing the opposite of the stated public policy, to huge waste of valuable and scarce resources.
The end result is often satisfying but getting there is hard work. I call it digital dumpster-diving.
11
I’ll add my thanks to the NYTimes for this eye-opening bit of investigative journalism. Great tenacity.
I hope some U.S. organic farming organization will sponsor Mr. Angyan as a refugee- in our better days (bTe) before the Trump era, he’d already be here. Hope he stays safe.
8
The EU has never achieved what some idealized as a “United States of Europe”. The much-maligned “bureaucrats in Brussels” make the rules because the European parliament is not equipped to do it.
The US “laboratory of the states” has had and continues to have its own problems with similar issues, be it corrupt political and financial elites or organized crime.
If the Western EU democracies care about corruption in the eastern bloc countries, they will have to do something about it. However, there is little incentive for them to do so, especially since it’s not affecting their own voters. I feel sorry for people in red states who may need more services but don’t get them because their state won’t provide it (no Medicaid, poor schools or whatever.) But if a blue state American won’t spend a lot of time worrying about red state fellow Americans, it’s far more likely to be the case when most people residing in the EU still identify as Germans, French, Spaniards, etc and don’t pay much attention to Hungarians, Czechs etc.
However— the expected kvetching from pro-Brexit Britons is absurd. If you’re a British farmer, you benefit from the CAP too. And if the CAP money for British farms exits with the UK, British farms may fail and imports from EU countries to Britain will no longer necessarily be duty-free. Higher food prices have brought down far better men than Boris Johnson.
7
@Lawyermom You seem to take the wrong lessons here.
In the US red states, if the majority wants more services, they can vote for it at both the state and federal level. You don't need to feel sorry for them because blue state people are not worrying about. Not condescending to them would be sufficient.
In the EU, the EU parliament cannot introduce legislation, they can only approve what is introduced by the European Commission which is people chosen by national governments. And what is the incentive of national governments to investigate their own countries' big agri companies? Probably it is a more grassroots body like a parliament would be more likely to get to the bottom of this spending.
Eventually the EU will likely need to cut back these subsidies if it effects their credit rating. But they are a bad idea for other reasons. Agricultural subsidies prevent farmers from becoming more efficient and that's the case for the EU and US farmers. They also make food artificially inexpensive which prevents farmers in the developing world from selling into the rich country markets and lifting themselves out of poverty.
yet another example of greedy people claiming (truthfully) that everything they do is according to the law, while conveniently omitting that the law was written by them for them. whenever this statement is made (frequently by authoritarian governments and large corporations, usually corrupt), you can be sure that justice is nowhere to be found.
people need to remember that law does not necessarily equate to justice.
17
Big money & government seems to go hand in hand with corruption worldwide. Election/campaign finance reform should be on the top of everyone's list. Until we get corporations & big money out we'll continue to decline.
5
I have dual Hungarian and Canadian citizenship, and my family were refugees to Vancouver from Hungary in 1956, after having their over 600-acre farm expropriated, in addition to vineyards, a castle, and other properties. Our former lands were held by the ‘new’ Hungarian government in 1989, and of course parceled off to Mr. Orbán’s friends, rather than being returned to us. It is the same for many, many Hungarian families. Nothing was ever returned. The EU is complicit in this by not holding them accountable. There are massive reparations due to the Hungarian people from both Orbán’s government and the Soviet Union and the EU needs to stop enabling them.
39
@JPH there has been massive electoral fraud at every Hungarian election, which several members of the EU commission have publicly commented on but for some reason they have never investigated further. The majority of Hungarian people have been publicly protesting against the Orban dictatorship for years and recently achieved a victory in electing a liberal, non-Fidesz mayor in Budapest. Yes there are the brainwashed people who vote for him but it is not reflective of how the majority of people feel.
@JPH actually there has been massive suspected electoral fraud each time he is elected (which is never fully investigated by the EU despite a few of the Commissions’ members stated suspicions) Do some research before commenting.
@Carolyn The Hungarian people voted for and defend Orban, not the Europeans or the EU.
The EU fights against Orban and the Hungarian people over many policies that are not respected and the corruption that goes with that.
Now you understand why I voted for BREXIT, along with a majority of referendum voters in 2016. The EU is a cesspit of corruption.
All those MPs & their cronies, civil servants, etc are raking in £millions from the EU & are doing all they can to thwart our BREXIT votes & remain in the EU. The UK governemnt is as corrupt as Brussels is. I'm 77 & dread the furture the youngsters of today are facing.
7
@Terence Wallis
Do you not think that Britain has just as corrupt a system of farm supports? Take a look, and it is likely to get worse post-Brexit as governments facing economic problems seek to shore up rural support.
Great reporting on a significant issue that gets little coverage. This kind of reporting reminds us why the men who wrote the U.S. Constitution said if the choice was between government and a free press, they would take the free press. Reporting like this is why my wife and I subscribe to the NYT.
33
Great investigation, shocking news, I am surprised (or perhaps not..) that a non european team of journalists has spent the time and efforts doing it..
I do not remember any similar effort to investigate from a french newspaper ? The European Community needs to be accountable for this.
42
Goodness. I should have thought of this. The Times is too discrete to mention it, but you are spot on. The leading newspapers of Europe are too intimidated to take up this subject. Even The Telegraph, mouthpiece of Britain’s Tory Party, shied away from this dangerous territory.
1
@Denis L the only real journalists left in Europe are with Mediapart and Der Spiegel. Even they would be afraid to report on the CAP.
@Denis L Do you read Le Monde or Liberation ?
There is much more information and investigation about Euro policies in the French press and also about the USA than in any US newspaper.
You talk about French newspapers and I am sure that you cannot read French and have never read any of them.
Yes I have experienced this kind of corruption in Central Europe myself. But what really surprises me is that people who voicefuly campaign here in the UK to remain in the EU, refuse to see this kind of corruption happening in Europe with the support and encouragement of Brussels. EU subsidies are also encouraging gross over production which cannot be supported when subsidies stop.
5
Eastern Europe is not the only place where the CAP corrupts and causes damage to the integrity of politicians and helps to cause environmental damage.
In the Morvan region of France, which is located in a poor part of Burgundy farmers are encouraged to plant corn which is not at all adapted to the the climate or soil. This crop wreaks havoc on the environment polluting the water supply and harming insect life with abundant use of pesticides.
Since the farmers are paid by the number of acres they plant good year (rare) or bad year (often) this destructive and economically unjustified system persists.
Since the politicians are indebted to farmers and their unions nothing is done to stop this corrupt and perverse practice.
28
When I read this article this morning, I was shocked, appalled, sickened by the practices of these former Eastern bloc countries, as well as by the hostility of the EU towards the research being done for the article. Clearly the EU is an enabler of this atrocious corruption, and to the intimidation of small farmers in these EU member countries.
The Times posted this intensively researched and hugely significant article at the top of the front page of the paper edition, which is where I read it. Looking online, the article is not posted anywhere amongst the many featured articles towards the top of the webpage. It is, relatively speaking, buried under the listings in international news. Is this because the article wasn't considered to be clickbait?
8
@RM It was the top article on the front page of nytimes.com yesterday. That's where I found it.
4
A chapter in the forthcoming book, "A Tale of Two Oligarchies: Ours and Theirs".
7
Farm subsidies in this country are not a whole lot better. I hope Apuzzo takes a careful look at them, too.
10
Corrupt politicians in eastern and central Europe are looting the richer countries in the west with the assistance of the EU bureaucracy. Brexit starts to look more understandable in this light. Orban is a particularly interesting case because he gets so much traction attacking the EU while feasting on its largesse.
12
Hungarian reader here.
Thank you for this and keep on reporting.
The Hungarian state has been captured and Orbán steals Hungary's future. Why should you care about a tiny country in the Eastern part of the EU?
Orbán is the only PM in the EU who is an ally of Putin and Erdogan, the two bloody dictators. Orbán let the IIB into Hungary an obvious spy house of the Russians. Orbán also agitated Trump against the Ukrainians. Orbán got his riches quicker than Mark Zuckerbarg via his strawman, Lőrinc Mészáros. Look it up, how quick his wealth increased and also look up a video about him. He does not speak English, barely even Hungarian. Hungary is a total mess and we lack of proper journalism here due to governmental oppression.
Thank you NYT and keep Hungary covered.
48
@Levente
"lack of proper journalism here due to governmental oppression
Nepszava, a socialist and strongly oppostion newspaper, is the most widely sold newspaper in Hungary.
"Orbán is the only PM in the EU who is an ally of Putin and Erdogan, the two bloody dictators."
He is not an ally of either of those two.
He smartly plays Putin to balance the constant pressure he gets from the West.
"Orbán got his riches quicker"
Where is Orban on the list of the 150 richest Hungarians which includes Gyurcsany, the face of the opposition?
"Hungary is a total mess"
The economy is booming, unemployment is at record low levels, Wages, especially at the lower levels, are increasing significantly.
Compare that with what happened under Gyurcsany.
The country was saved from bankruptcy by EU loans (which the Orban government paid back).
Levente, you use some sweeping generalization. Let's get some balance and facts.
Hernando de Soto Polar writes that capitalism works in the west but not everywhere else because in the west there are good records of capital, like land. I'm beginning to think, and your article about corruption in the EU made think, that when it fails in the west it is for the same reason. Lack of transparency about the ownership of capital has the same effect as lack of good records, imho. I hope the author of the NYT article will also address this!
32
Perhaps the British have the right idea with Brexit after all.
19
@AC For some the promise of Brexit is really they can enjoy their racism and xenophobia. It is not the making of a pleasant "country" environment.
Britain invaded half the countries of the world and robbed them of their wealth, and would leave when asked repeatedly. Ironic they don't like "others" on Britain, often doing the jobs British citizens will not take.
And many British citizens wish to live elsewhere; should they also be "forced back" as others are "forced out"?
9
@AC
Don't think the UK is not up to it's eyes in this same EU ag policy corruption. They received GBP3.5BN in CAP money last year.
8
What Warren Courtney said, at least for rank-and-file workers who've been brainwashed into supporting the Brexit trainwreck.
For the rich, on the other hand, it is now well-known that they just want to keep their offshore hoards, which the EU planned to do away with.
The EU's secrecy and evasiveness on farm policy, and the copywrong article they recently approved, are both bizarre and disturbing and the Union needs to revert and apologize for it immediately; but the heroic GDPR and their Sane regulations on other matters are worth even THOSE.
Especially given the alternative (facts) the vile GOP and its Bad People-Bad Policy-Bad Faith peers present us...
3
The NYT reflexively defends the EU and all other globalization products. What they will learn here if they revive their muckraking skills is that many of their idyllic views about the beaurocracy from Brussles are misguided - and that they should have consulted real farmers in Europe before embracing and promoting them, in the first place. I guess we'll have to wait for this before we can hope that they will open their eyes to similar corrupt, undemocratic expressions of globalization here in the US (even within their own corporation).
13
@carl bumba -- Is not the article on which you comment evidence against the claims that you make?
I am hard put to see the EU defended in the account that the NYTIMES presents.
10
@A S Knisely
I'm sorry, this is a follow-up to an earlier comment I made that explains this. The EU is not defended here, but the authors are shifting the critique to Hungary (Orban) and other EU critical countries. They are focusing on land grab corruption and not criticizing the excessive and non-discriminating flow of money from Brussels that drives this throughout Europe. If this easy money was only being exploited by these former eastern bloc countries they probably wouldn't be such critics of the EU. It's really a general problem of EU expansion (and globalization) affecting all the countries and which a few, minor countries are calling out. The issue of corrupt/patronage land acquisitions in former communist countries is separate, but exacerbated by generous EU subsidies, imo.
6
Money, especially free money, is undoubtedly the root of all evil.
Honesty and ethical behavior is long gone. How long before these journalists' visas and travel permits get revoked?
11
Thank you for not taking “no” for an answer. I found this story and it’s companion piece deeply disturbing.
83
Really compliments and congratulations for this kind of reporting. I've been encouraging the NYT for some time to grab the chance to expand to Europe. Please now that you found a good vein keep mining it. There is a lot more ... and not only in Eastern Europe. You may want to try England, France and Italy as well, without neglecting Germany and The Netherlands.
Best of luck and thanks,
Tony
45
@Tony De Luca Why not Luxembourg? I'm sure Herr Juncker will be very helpful.
This article pinpoints why I and many others want to leave the EU.
4
@Tony De Luca
Good point re France, Italy, etc.
So, what is the result of your investigation : who gets what and where ?
1
@Pascal Poggi Here’s a link to their investigative report https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/03/world/europe/eu-farm-subsidy-hungary.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
1
Well well well, looks like the wonderful European Union that the American left glorifies and the UK is trying to get away from is actually a big corrupt machine. Maybe more articles like this on the corruption in Europe, and the fact that nominal socialism does not solve problems of corruption will give a truer picture of Europe than the Socialist heaven most liberals espouse. In fact add high youth unemployment and it doesn’t seem like a great system at all. Starting to look like George Orwell‘s animal Farm. 
10
@Paul
Of course, the US is becoming Huxleyian (Brave New World). We already have "soma" (opioids), and we do worship "Our Ford", in our obsequiousness to to the Plutocrats.
1
@Paul Not a large surprise to see that most people just use an article like this as a Rorschach. "It confirms everything I have been saying about Brexit". A bit more thought would indicate that the EU sounds very much like the US agriculture department, funneling most of its cash to large conglomerates. That does not necessarily mean that support to agriculture is wrong, but that watching the process carefully is needed. In the EU the pressures are somewhat unique, they need to keep Orban and other oligarchs happy. On the other hand the EU subsidies give the EU some control over both political and farm policy. In the US unfounded subsidies to ethanol may be the equivalent, bragging rights for some state politicians and heavy campaign donors. In any case journalistic daylight is probably sorely needed in both places.
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Paul, when you inject broadly generalized, derogatory labels into every single troublesome issue in the world, you discredit every single thing you have to say. The world is more wonderfully complicated than your simple nouns represent.
All: why does this demographic always resort to drawing a smokescreen of nonsense nouns, liberal, left, etc., to defend their platform? Where's the beef?
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Wow. Great determination and resourcefulness! Thanks N.Y. Times.
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This is fascinating, troubling, and an excellent reminder of why we need smart, skilled journalists like those who work for the NY Times.
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Anyone who reads this article should read “Thieves of State” by Sarah Chayes.
Sarah points out succinctly that any funds intended for ‘The People’, which is intercepted by ‘Middleman’ (corrupt intermediaries), is a recipe for grievances and popular revolt.
One needs to look no further than the failed States of Iraq and Afghanistan to understand this.
I’m surprised the European Union hasn’t learned this yet. I know the US hasn’t.
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More ignorant complacency. It's been going on for decades. Rich, amoral, highly motivated people have taken every advantage of people who were not only powerless, but also not paying attention. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the West should have moved in to help Russia, and the satellite countries to reinvigorate their economies, to make representative government the ideal. Instead, we patted ourselves on our backs and just walked away, leaving them to their own devices, the way we have handled voting for the last 50 years. It'll all work out, by itself, without any attention from us, right? Always ask yourselves: "If we do this, what is the WORST thing that could happen, and are we prepared to deal with it?"
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@ChesBay do you really think Stalin would have just rolled over and accepted Western interference in the USSR?? They gave him Eastern Europe in order to appease and stop the red army from continuing its murderous rampage West of Hungary.
What the US spends subsidizing agriculture dwarfs that of any other country or combination of countries combined. A few corporate conglomerates and their shareholder oligarchs are cleaning out our treasury. Why are we concerned about what Europe is doing anyway? Didn’t our government blow them off?
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@Dennis Agricultural subsidies in the EU are triple those in the US. You may want to read the main investigative article in the NYT on this subject before commenting further.
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@Dennis
"What the US spends subsidizing agriculture dwarfs that of any other country or combination of countries combined."
What are your sources of information for this claim?
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@Nico Food assistance comes out of the Department of Agriculture budget.
And you wonder why we in Britain want to leave the EU.
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This article is so reflective of the audacity and sheer courage of the NEW YORK TIMES: the truth hurts. The reporting will no doubt give support to pro-Brexit forces in the UK, as it provides vivid data about UK taxpayer funds subsidizing corrupt officials and, in general, bad public policy on the Continent. This is unfortunate as Brexit appears to have more harmful effects than beneficial ones for the UK. But at the same time it is a clarion call to those who criticize the TIMES (and we know who those are...): this newspaper of record will not shy from uncovering the truth no matter how painful, even if doing so dents positions it otherwise supports. And this is why I and no doubt countless others continue to read and support the TIMES. Keep up the good work!
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@Paul
Victor Orban was the primary target of this article - NYT was well within their comfort zone on this one. Pretty unprofessional in that no data was provided to warrant the targeting him or Hungary, in particular. Are there really no farm subsidy shenanigans in ANY of the pro-EU countries?
Thank you for your journalism.
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And people think the mining industry is corrupt!
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Kudos the the reporters and Times for exposing this horrid corruption.
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@John Henry -- The corruption is long known, at least within Hungary and to those who love her -- please consider googling HUNGARIAN SPECTRUM, assembled by the admirable Éva BALOGH, for a detailed accounting, set out individually and sometimes years ago, of many of the events only touched on here. Of course I am delighted to see the newspaper of record (and that the NYTIMES still is, no doubt about it) giving attention to what Hungarians and other Eastern Europeans endure every day. But the NYTIMES has not exposed it in the sense of first bringing it to light; that would be as silly as the claim that Columbus "discovered" the Americas. The NYTIMES has instead shone into this darkness a brighter light than others ever could muster. For that, to the editors and reporters involved, my heartfelt thanks.
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@A S Knisely
On what grounds are we to believe that this type of corruption is worse in Hungary (in absolute terms or as percentage of the money they get from the EU) then it is in Italy, Greece, Spain, France - or how about Croatia or Romania? Orban is clearly a nemesis of this paper... maybe for good reason. But don't we need more to justify THIS line of attack?
This is a shocking report. It is hard to know how in the world the situation can be altered, but surely this is the first step: reporting of this calibre. Well done, and thank you. I find the article both stunning and deeply worrying. We always knew there was corruption in the EU Farm Policy, but it seems the oligarchs of the new EC member states have taken it to a new level.
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Please go on. We desperately need accountability in the EU, where there is a strong tendency to promote it for the distant future but not for the recent past and the present. The CAP is essentially a federal program without federal oversight or control - the key contradiction exposed in this superb inquiry, a contradiction that permeates most of its policies.
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While this is interesting, but, based on general public knowledge of enormous subsidies to well-to-do farmers in the U.S., why is this so intensely interesting? Other than facts are hard to come by, and secrecy rules.
One thing about European food is that it is invariably fresh, and often free of assorted not-very-good chemicals that the U.S. adds. So, perhaps Europe feels it is worth investing in healthier food?
The question might be, is the subsidized land for the most part farmed, or, as in the U.S., does it have wide fallow swaths?
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All farm subsidies need to be ended, everywhere. Within the next 20 years the world will need 70% more protein to feed the additional 1billion people. We will all be gaining efficiencies to reach that goal and subsidies do not help attain that goal.
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One of the reasons the EU is so unpopular in the UK is the level of corruption and secrecy that emanates from the institution. The finances and the where and how money has been spent has not been released for public consumption and accountability for years. It is time the EU come clean as it is public money from our taxes that is used and we have a right to know how it is used.
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@Trevor Downing
The epicenter of financial corruption is LONDON ENGLAND, not BRUSSELS.
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@C.KLINGER
No it isn't. It has long been the Common Agricultural Policy, the largest beneficiary is which country .....France.
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@C.KLINGER no it isn't.
Thanks from Europe for having researched into this and written this article.
The EU agricultuiral policy is wrong in many ways, besides the corruption you point out. It has been long been a heavilly regressive subsidy system (giving to the wealthy, out of taxes paid by all of us), and created unfair competition in favor of large EU produceers, which harms both the small local producers (and sends them out of business) and agricultural production in less developed countries, which, although more efficient in principle,can not compete with the highly subsidized EU agricultural products and the tariffs on agricultiralimports. Meanwhile the EU is an advocate of free trade in other areas and strictly enforces a harsh anti-subsidy policy (State aid rules) in other areas. But all the blessings of free trade and free competition seem not to be relevant in the agricultural field.
The lack of transparency you found in this field is generalized in many areas of EU policy, where many decisions are ultimately made by EU bureaucrats, hardly accountable to EU constituencies. If there is one thing that the EU bureaucracy avoids is dealing directly with EU citizens. But if you criticize the lack of transparency or acountability of the EU bureaucracy or the democratic shortcomings of EU government you are just labeled and discredited as an eurosceptic.
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@NIK
Thank you for your clear synopsis and much needed perspective. This article is something of a Red Herring.
Interesting article about land corruption in the EU. A team of reporters should research the bankruptcies and sales of farms in the Midwest and South, land that has been acquired by national and international farming conglomerates. The corruption in Hungary could easily happen here, due to the tariffs and subsidies paid out of the Treasury. Is it a myth that the greatest amount of money has gone to the industrial farming community, while small farmers have greater hurdles to acquiring their share of the subsidies? I can’t recall seeing a report on this, but I have heard it was reported on in farming journals. President Trump is vulnerable to corruption, because he could receive donations to his campaign from US industrial farmers, and overtures for developments of hotels and condos by international farming concerns. A subsidy is an opportunity for corruption. I better understand a reason why Great Britain wants to leave the EU because of this article. It can happen anywhere.
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I would be interested to see an article but based in the United States, trump is currently paying billions to "farmers" hurt by his questionable trade wars, but who exactly benefits, which corporations make the most? And American subsidies in the form of "crop insurance". How much is paid, and what is the average cost per person in the US?
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These two articles are fabulous reads. Very insightful into European cronyism at its best. Hopefully the U.S. Government will use this as a policy tool against Europe when completing agricultural trade and tariff talks. The EU is broke. This seems like a good way to save $65b.
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These two articles are fabulous reads. Very insightful into European cronyism at its best. Hopefully the U.S. Government will use this as a policy tool against Europe when completing agricultural trade and tariff talks. The EU is broke. This seems like a good way to save $65b.
Congratulations on this story that adds another piece to the puzzle of the whereabouts of Europe’s farm subsidies!
The article could have benefitted from a more detailed description of how the Common Agricultural Policy actually works. The majority of subsidies consist of direct payments based on acreage to landowners and therefore motivate the land grab. The second pillar is the subsidies for livestock, dairy farming etc, which could go to small farmers if the land were leased to them. Which it isn‘t because more money is to be made by leasing it to large companies.
Could The Times keep on the subject? Member States are currently negotiating the new funding period 2021-2027 where the CAP is supposed to be modernised and many organisations contribute good ideas how that could happen. Up to now this process has been more like „ Much ado about nothing“ resulting in business as usual for those who grab land and subsidies on a large scale!
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This story finds that there is corruption within the EU Farm subsidy program. Is anyone surprised? And knowing that with any large scale government run program there will be some level of corruption, why is anyone advocating for more government control in our lives?
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@G G
What about small-scale government run programs? City, county and state governments operate closer to their programs' beneficiaries, as well as their tax-paying benefactors. They should be in a better position to support, rather than "control". Small government should also help some of those 'deep state' issues.
This is an extraordinary piece of reporting and deserves a Pulitzer. Next, a look at the farm subsidy program in the United States
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Tour any well curated history museum, and you'll find the rooms devoted to the early period of any society deal only with elites. Everyone identified by name is a grandee of some sort. The portraits all show generals and aristocrats.
Then eventually you'll come to a room with a portrait or 2 mixed in of men (always men) who made fortunes in banking and commerce and were grudgingly accepted into the ruling class. And soon after that you'll see the first popular leaders, almost all of whom failed, were jailed, or were killed as their movements were crushed.
If the museum you're touring is in Western Europe you'll see more successful republicans (small r) beginning in the 19th century, and throughout the 20th. Elsewhere, in Chile's National History Museum, for instance, those types show up much later.
But they DO eventually show up in the museums of FAR more countries today than they ever did before.
Societies become more inclusive. Eventually, the 1% doesn't get to keep everything for itself.
As this article clearly shows, the work isn't done yet, even in Europe. In fact for the last few decades many countries, including ours, have been sliding slowly back.
My thanks to Matt Apuzzo et all for helping arrest that retrogression. Through their efforts and those of millions of others (go ahead and call us the deepest state) the history museums of the future will show we continued to progress.
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Great reporting. Same thing in the US. 90% of the money goes to 10% of producers, be it research or subsidies, the largest and reddest ones, naturally. So, 'conservative' Rolex-wearing manicured 'farmers' like SC Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers, help set the rules then receive millions of dollars - along with their family members - in a maze of corporate paperwork that only folks like you can figure out. Of course, they are against others receiving federal aid, decently funded public schools, even as their 'success' has decimated the towns and cultures of every rural area in the country.
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Your accurate summary is no less depressing for being concise.
1
Fantastic reporting, thank you!
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Ordinarily, I hate using tariffs as policy, but in this case it’s warranted. Make it impossible for the EU to sell any agricultural products in the US until they change the way they distribute the subsidies. Then determine whether any of the subsidies puts the EU or any of it’s member nations at an advantage, and insist that the EU either deals US agricultural products in, or we keep them out.
@William Feldman And what about the huge subsidies paid to American farmers? In direct payments for those affected by the trade war but also insurance and benefit programs which the US gives as "support" to American agribusiness?
The US is not an innocent being hurt by others.
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The present U.S. economy is also enroute to creating a corrupt feudal system. Our present farm policy issues subsidies based on acreage and the corporate farmer takes in the bulk of the dollars. How many large farm corporations have gone bankrupt in the last 5 years?
I see no relationship to the author's " Think of it like Medicare and social security, only shrouded in secrecy " and this article but certainly see it in our agricultural programs.
5
A most important study, showing political corruption and enrichment via subsidies for farmers. If this is not corrected by appropriate regulations and public supervision, this may become one more nail in the European Union's coffin. Meanwhile, Trumpian Viktor Urban (and his allies) is laughing all the way to the Bank. This practice is outrageous! And trying to hide the sun with your hand shall backfire.
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While I think Brexit is a mistake for Britain, stories like this are useful correctives to the overwhelmingly pro-EU slant of Brexit coverage in the US media. There are many reasons that Brexit won, and not all of them were due to xenophobia or reactionary attitudes. The E.U. is a colossal, undemocratic, ultimately unaccountable monolith that has thus far resisted all accounts at meaningful reform.
7
This year U.S. farm subsidies are predicted to be about or above $16 billion.
Data on the EWG site suggests that subsidies in the “teens” of billions have been common for the past two decades.
How do our subsidies compare in their political and other impacts to those of the E.U.
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@Stephen Rinsler
CAP was 58.2 billion euros in 2018 (out of the total EU budget of 162.1billion euros).
@Jess ,
Ouch. Quite correct. I really misread that.
I am still curious about how our $15 billion subsidies might be misused.
By any politician...
These journalists had a great challenge with this investigative reporting. Expose classic patronage corruption in land acquisition, fueled by easy money from the EU - without significantly criticizing the money pipeline, itself! What's more, they seemingly needed to expose this EU-driven corruption just in those countries that are actually critical of EU expansion and power. Quite a balancing act. The huge flow of EU farm subsidies need to be examined IN TOTAL, not just in cherry-picked 'renegade' countries. Other types of corruption and inefficiency are common wherever easy money pools. Without looking at EU money malfeasance in non-pyraha countries the significance of corruption in these former-communist countries can not be evaluated. After living close to the Hungarian border for 15 years, I can tell you that EU bloat takes its toll with or without Victor Orban's help.
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It's great to know that there are people who can see that this is wrong and actually care. Thank you for your investigative work. It's so much different to read about these issues in The New York Times, than in just the local Hungarian papers.
I feel like everyone knows about the corrupt ways of our politicians and oligarchs, but everyone is just so used to it: that's the way it is, that's how it's always been. But it really hits home how bad things are when you read about it from people who are not born into this unconcerned society.
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The fact is these parish states that are now in the eu signed the acqiuis communitaire as part of joining the eu and thus have a legal duty for good governance and transparent public procurement including advertising the procurement, that it be competitive etc
In short they fail and it is Disingenuous for Eurocrats to say it is up to the governments
The eu has to make sure governments live up to the aquas that they signed up to
8
It all sounds so very American. Hopefully you’re going to keep digging. Otherwise you’ve only further promoted the fact that intimation works. Regardless of where, our land, food, animals and water will not sustain this institutional greed and corruption. In Europe they’re called Oligarchs, in America they’re called Corporate CEOs, but it’s the same formula.
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When people wonder, vaguely, why Britain wants to leave the EU, this constitutes one good answer. It also helps to explain why most of Scandinavia stayed out of the EU.
This corruption is bureaucratic; the elected representatives have almost zero say.
The EU experiment is floundering and will fail if this corruption cannot be brought under control.
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“Mr. Angyan was instrumental in helping us understand how the European Union money flows to the oligarchs...”
Ever notice how rich people in other countries are termed “oligarchs”, accurately so, but rich people in the US, who use their wealth to exert as much or more influence on policy as their foreign counterparts, are never referred to a oligarchs?
Our wealthy are businessmen, philanthropists, magnates, job creators etc.
Matt Apuzzo, like his colleagues in the corporate media, have no idea how indoctrinated they are into the ideology of privilege and exceptionalism of the wealthy.
I’m quite sure that if Appuzzo referred to Bill Gates or Warren Buffet as an “oligarch”, his editors would correct that.
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@Ed Watters
They MUST know to some degree that they espouse a party line. There's surely a limit to the extent that Goliath can convince itself that it is David.
1
Interesting. Can’t wait for these guys to untangle the corrupt mess that is crop subsidies in the US.
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Fascinating, extraordinary article, kudos.
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