While no doubt a lot of corruption is going on in countries like hungary or bulgaria, CAP subsidies were always used by politicians as a political carrot. That'

While no doubt a lot of corruption is going on in countries like hungary or bulgaria, CAP subsidies were always used by politicians as a political carrot. That's why greece (the largest per capita subsidy recipient until recently) ends up still having ~13% farming population which produces very little. The system was always easy to game and there was too little regard for where the money is going. People would claim ownership of land that didn't exist, to the point where entire towns had to be moved on the map, because there just wasn't enough land to fit. Farm subsidies ended up being free vote subsidies for every politician, left and right. The situation is not much different with other types of subsidies tbh. Economies are becoming too dependent on EU funding, and businesses adapt by creating a facade of productivity, in order to attract more and more EU funding. This is unsustainable and will not end well of course. But, considering how many votes are contingent to it, everyone pretends to look away.