Friday, May 06, 2011

Commission insists on transparency

The Commission has reacted to a court judgement on publishing details on farm subsidies by insisting on a commitment to transparency: Subsidies

While the judgement means that data cannot be published on 'natural persons' (individual farmers) the Commission's view is that it could and should be published about 'legal persons' (companies).

Given that many large farm businesses are constituted as companies, this could mean that taxpayers would still have access to data about the really big payouts. However, much depends on the follow up action taken by member states.

3 comments:

Joanna said...

Would transparency be aided by setting down details for release of the figures, for example any individual or company receiving over a certain amount? Or would that be too easy to fudge?

Wyn Grant said...

One can't give figures on individuals anyway because of the court judgement. A further complication is that some farms are organised as more than one business.

Joanna said...

Okay, thank you for the clarification