Financial shenanigans continue to dog the European Commission.

IN the six years covered by its current 'financial perspective', ie budget, the European Union plans to spend EUR293bn on market support

and direct payments to EU farmers.

In 2006, all 27 EU member states agreed to reveal the farmers who get the direct payments by April 30 this year. Most have done so, with varying degrees of detail, enough to make it clear that the 80/20 rule applies, with the largest 20% of EU farmers receiving 80% of the payments.

One notable backslider has been Germany. The German Minister of Agriculture's excuse was that her plans to publish the information had been challenged in court 'in nearly all federal states'.

"We are not blocking publication", she said, as she asked for 'a temporary suspension' of the requirement to publish.

She got a dusty answer from the European Commission which suspected that she wanted to delay publication until after the June European elections, but, having given its refusal, the Commission did nothing further.

So to no one's surprise, publication did eventually take place after the election but, even then, not in Bavaria.

It took a visit last month to Munich from the Agriculture Commissioner herself, Mariann Fischer Boel, and a threat to sue, before Bavaria caved in.

Making member states reveal names of recipients of direct payments is one thing, but