European Parliament and Foreign Ownership

Transnational Institute: It says land grabbing in the EU as measured by the degree of foreign ownership involves a heterogeneous group of actors, including banks, investment funds and private equity companies, according to Deutsche Welle. Changes in order Martin Häusling, a member of the European Parliament for the Green party, said "the EU principle of allowing the free movement of capital within the bloc should be curtailed with a view to strengthening a sustainable agriculture in EU member countries." 0:00:00 0:00:00Agri-investors stoke monoculture The study found that in Romania, for instance, between 30 and 40 percent of all farmland was controlled by foreign investors. The study compiled by the Amsterdam-based anti-globalization Transnational Institute counters the widespread belief that the grabbing of farmland has only been going on in Africa and parts of Asia. It said the situation was also dramatic in Bulgaria and Poland and to a lesser degree in the Baltic countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It said the phenomenon of farmland grabbing was leading to a weakening of the environmental vitality of the rural sector, but also to the further erosion of Europe model of family farming as it blocked young people entry into agriculture. The most active land grabbers came from western Europe, China, Kuwait and Qatar, the survey found. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.