This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.
Farm owners convicted of exploiting migrant workers continue to claim millions in taxpayer-funded subsidies, DeSmog can reveal.
A major new investigation traced dozens of EU payments to farms that have breached, are under investigation for, or have already been convicted of labour-related offences.
DeSmog found that 30 farms and farm owners – ranging from smallholdings to large estates – received at least €14 million in subsidies over the past ten years, despite convictions or formal investigations relating to labour abuse. The figure is just a fraction of the likely total, covering cases that faced legal penalties in some of the EU’s largest countries.
With an overall budget of €378.5 billion, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) – aimed at supporting EU farmers and improving Europe’s food security – makes up a quarter of the bloc’s seven-year expenditure. But critics say the subsidy is failing the EUs over nine million agricultural workers, of which at least one in four are estimated to be migrants.
