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Under other EEC rules, subsidies on the same exported commodity may vary according to stated destinations. Thus, European cheese earmarked for Canada (high subsidy) sometimes pauses there only briefly before finding its way into the U.S. (low subsidy). French and German dairymen collect a 40% subsidy for butter shipped to Vatican City, but no bonus at all for sales to Italy, which is an EEC member. In January EEC statisticians noticed that butter exports to the Vatican had hit 160 tons a year—suspiciously high for a place with a population of only 700. Much of the butter ended up in Italian food stores—until the Vatican recently delivered French and German exporters from temptation by tightening controls on imports.
Gruel Trick. The EEC is expected to adopt an anti-agro-fraud regulation at its monthly ministerial meeting in June. The proposed measure calls for, among other things, closer scrutiny of export-import data and intensified sharing of information on known smugglers. Until Europe develops closer cultural and linguistic ties, tighter security may not be enough. For years a French trader was able to masquerade low-priced gruel as high-subsidized semolina without even changing labels. Foreign customs men were unaware that the French use the same word, gruau, for both products.
* Subsidies are paid out of the Common Market's agricultural fund to exporters of any one of 3,000 commodities.