Music to my ears (of corn)

¡No Pasarán! has a nice rundown on a recent report listing some of the "development" projects that are funded by the EU's Common Agricultural Policy. While the distribution of the funds ranges from exceedingly fraudulent to baffling, one group in particular caught my eye. Apparently, Nearly €60,000 were earmarked for a Swedish accordion club. While I can think of at least 15 possible uses for an accordion, at least two of which do not break any of the Geneva Conventions, I'm not quite sure I can think of any agricultural or developmental use that would necessitate funding a single Swedish accordion enthusiast, let alone him and a Saab full of his closest friends. Perhaps it is somewhat fitting that the original name of the family of instruments that includes the accordion, as mentioned on wikipedia, "is actually harmonika, from the Greek harmonikos, meaning harmonic, musical." Well that explains it all. It's the Greeks again, sly little buggers. What is strange is that this seems to be a gross misuse of CAP funds which are supposed to primarily double the price of sugar in the EU and generally shelter French farmers from any competitive pressures they would otherwise face. Unless these Swedes plan on playing for France's army of CAP millionaires or until they can find a way to beat an accordion into a plough, they should consider giving at least some of the money back.