Pac, Guarda (Greens): “EU funds to the Emirates, farmers betrayed”

“The investigation – adds Guarda – shows how, between 2019 and 2024, through a network of subsidiaries in Romania, Spain and Italy, the sovereign fund of the Emirates has drained European public resources to produce fodder and products intended forexport to the Gulfcertainly not to guarantee our food sovereignty.”

In Italy, he explains, “companies like Unifrutti, among other things based in Veneto, in Padua, acquired by Emirates funds, have benefited from huge public funds. This happens because the current system based on surface favors large landowners“.

“We are faced with – continues Guarda – a real monopoly. As denounced by farmers in Catalonia and Romania, giants like Al Dahra control so much land that they can dictate prices at will: either small producers accept their conditions, or they are out of the market.”

“While – Guarda continues – European citizens suffer for the soaring food priceswe allow our agricultural resources to be handed over to investors who they export almost all of their harvest outside the Union“.

“The debate on the post-2027 CAP is upon us: we cannot allow this to continue havoc. We need an insurmountable maximum limit on payments for each company, total transparency on the actual beneficiaries and a decisive shift of resources towards small companies and agroecological practices. European lands must serve to feed citizens and protect biodiversity”, concludes the MEP.