{"id":2404912,"date":"2026-05-06T17:55:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T17:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2404912"},"modified":"2026-05-06T17:55:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T17:55:29","slug":"gulf-royal-family-banks-over-e70-million-in-eu-farming-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/gulf-royal-family-banks-over-e70-million-in-eu-farming-funds\/","title":{"rendered":"Gulf Royal Family Banks Over \u20ac70 Million in EU Farming Funds"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The UAE\u2019s ruling royal family is benefiting from tens of millions in EU subsidies to grow crops destined for the Gulf, it can be revealed.<\/p>\n

A new cross-border investigation, shared with The Guardian, found that subsidiaries controlled by the Al Nahyans collected over \u20ac71 million (\u00a361 million) in just six years for farmland it controls in Romania, Italy and Spain.<\/p>\n

The Al Nahyan family is the second richest<\/a> in the world, with an estimated wealth of more than $320 billion (\u00a3235 billion), mostly derived from the emirates\u2019 vast oil reserves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) make up a third<\/a> of the EU\u2019s entire budget, paying out<\/a> around \u20ac54 billion (\u00a346.6 billion) each year to farmers and rural areas across the bloc. But an unknown proportion of this ends up in the hands of foreign investors \u2014 including those controlled by autocratic states.<\/p>\n

DeSmog, in partnership with El Diario and G4Media, reviewed data for thousands of CAP beneficiaries between 2019 and 2024, tracing 110 European subsidy payments to a network of companies and subsidiaries controlled by the UAE\u2019s Al Nahyan family and one of its sovereign wealth funds, ADQ.<\/p>\n

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The largest of these payments came through the Romanian agricultural company Agricost, which owns the EU\u2019s single largest<\/a> farm, measuring 57,000 hectares, five times the size of Paris.<\/p>\n

EU farm subsidies disproportionately benefit<\/a> large landowners. In 2024 alone, Agricost received \u20ac10.5 (\u00a39 million) in direct payments \u2014 more than 1,600 times the amount collected by the average<\/a> EU farm.<\/p>\n

Campaigners have expressed alarm that the UAE, which has been widely condemned for jailing activists, criminalising homosexuality and multiple allegations<\/a> of torture \u2013 repeatedly denied by the UAE \u2013 benefits from regular EU farm payouts.<\/p>\n

The Al Nahyans and companies named in this article did not respond to multiple requests for comment. ADQ declined to respond.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The findings come as policymakers debate the future of the subsidy scheme. In July, the European Commission published<\/a> a proposal for the next round of CAP payments for 2028 to 2034 \u2014 which could cap land-based payments to \u20ac100,000 per farmer each year. The proposal has been met with fierce opposition from European ministers<\/a>, some MEPs<\/a>, and industry<\/a> lobby groups<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the European Commission told DeSmog via email that it believed income support through CAP payments \u201cshould be better targeted including by reducing and capping payments for the bigger farms\u201d, and is calling on the European Parliament and Council to support its proposed changes to the subsidy system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CAP is not helping EU farmers; it continues to enrich the wealthiest landowners,\u201d said Faustine Bas-Defossez, director for nature, health and environment at the Brussels-based advocacy group the European Environment Bureau. \u201cAnd now, even worse, it is fuelling autocratic regimes.\u201d<\/p>\n