BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The EU’s ombudsman has launched an inquiry into the Commission’s emergency amendments to the bloc’s agriculture subsidies in response to major farmers’ protests across Europe early this year, the EU body and ClientEarth said on Thursday.
Environmental law charity ClientEarth said it, along with BirdLife, had raised “serious concerns” about the fast changes made to 386 billion euros ($429 billion) in farming subsidies for the 2023-2027 period.
The two NGOs filed a complaint to the ombudsman in July, saying the watering down of environmental protections was “a threat to the future of farming”.
Further, they claimed the Commission was in breach of its own laws by failing to carry out a climate assessment before pushing through the changes.
ClientEarth said it was seeking a “finding of maladministration”.
The ombudsman launched an inquiry in August and on Monday sent a list of questions to the Commission. The Commission has until Dec. 16 to respond.
The ombudsman does not have enforcement powers.
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(Reporting by Julia Payne; editing by David Evans)
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