. >> sever milon hectaresf agricultural lands are no longer available for farming, driving food prices higher. the recovery will take a long time. >> skeptics often criticized the european union as a top- heavy waste of money. the bureaucracy is quite small considering the number of citizens it represents. it does appear there is room for improvement when it comes to spending money. for the 16th year in a row, the european court of auditors has refused to sign off on the budget, citing continued irregulaties. >>he european union's agricultural subsidies consists of nearly half of the year rose at the organization's disposal. often, more acreage is calculated and there is. farmers got more money than it necessary last year. >> we are gaining funds, and by the authorities for making payments. >> while the european union is theoretically responsible for the budget, many payments are made by member states who fail to account for the spending. this system allows plenty of opportunities for fraud. alast year, 5% of funds were distributed falsely. it was twice that in the year before. >> we a