Tax Payers

The CAP bill for taxpayers amounts to € 55 billion per year – without even counting the additional money spent by national authorities. This boils down to more than € 100 per EU citizen per year, the newborn and the elderly included. Counting only persons with a gainful activity, the amount rises above € 200 per person and year.

This is a hefty price for a policy that blatantly fails to promote public objectives. Why should European tax payers finance exports by large agricultural corporations that threaten the livelihood of small-scale farmers in developing countries? Why should people with an ordinary salary and little property – workers and teachers, shopkeepers and civil servants – pay for income support to farmers who own considerably more assets?

Just as inexcusable as the substance of these policies is the negligence with which they are decided and implemented. For € 55 billion per year, one might expect a thorough annual report, a detailed database, and in-depth studies on how the money is spent. Everybody should be able to understand what the policy objectives are, how they are defined in measurable terms, which instruments are selected to attain them and why, how implementation is monitored and what the results are. Instead, tax payers are confronted with vague aims, incomplete reporting, a lack of analysis, and secrecy.

What constitutes a scandal that provokes public outrage, obliging politicians to take better care of taxpayers’ money, is relative. The CAP marks the bottom end of wasteful and reckless use of taxpayer money. As long as the CAP prevails in its current form, it is difficult to draw attention to other wasteful subsidies. A culture of responsible spending in the EU cannot coexist with the CAP.