Inquiry conducted by Sub-committee D (Environment and Agriculture).

Originally published in 1984, this book provides an introduction to the history of agriculture in Western Europe, states the case for government intervention and analyses the operation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) during the late 20th Century. It concludes that the costs of the policy fell heavily on the poorer consumers, food prices were artificially high and surpluses sold at a loss on the world markets. In the light of Britain’s departure from the EU and the EU CAP this book, which also examined the prospects for the future has an enduring relevance.

How can the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union (EU) be financed in the future? Should spending be reduced? Should there be more co- financing by member states? Or should the CAP undergo a redesign towards a more federal model with a stronger emphasis on rural development? This book will discuss two topics: Firstly, how the CAP needs to change in order to be financially feasible, and secondly how the CAP needs to be modified in order to help farmers restructure their businesses.

Providing an updated state of the art report on the effects of the 2003 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform, this volume has a particular emphasis on the governance of institutional changes and national/regional implementation. Written from an agricultural economist's point of view and enriched by the contribution of political scientists and policy makers, this book offers: - an updated report of the European debate on agricultural and rural policies; -an in-depth analysis of the decoupling process of the agricultural financial support in Europe; - an analysis of the CAP implementation in the old and new Europe Member States ; - a discussion on the future scenarios for the European Agricultural Policies Based on a selection of papers from the 109th Seminar of the European Association of the Agricultural Economists (EAAE), this book, with a foreword by Franz Fischler, also includes four commissioned contributions from leaders in the field including Sofia Davidova, Roberto Esposti, Tassos Haniotis and Johan Swinnen.

After five years of debates, consultations and negotiations, the European institutions reached an agreement in 2013 on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the 2014-2020 period. The outcome has major implications for the EU’s budget and farmers’ incomes, but also for Europe’s environment, its contribution to global climate change and to food security in the EU and in the world. It was decided to spend more than €400 billion during the rest of the decade on the CAP. The official claims are that the new CAP will take better account of society's expectations and lead to far-reaching changes by making subsidies fairer and ‘greener’ and making the CAP more efficient. It is also asserted that the CAP will play a key part in achieving the overall objective of promoting smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. However, there is significant scepticism about these claims and disappointment with the outcome of the decision-making, the first in which the European Parliament was involved under the co-decision procedure. In contrast to earlier reforms where more substantive changes were made to the CAP, the factors that induced the policy discussions in 2008-13 and those that influenced the decision-making did not reinforce each other. On the contrary, they sometimes counteracted one another, yielding an ‘imperfect storm’ as it were, resulting in more status quo and fewer changes. This book discusses the outcome of the decision-making and the factors that influenced the policy choices and decisions. It brings together contributions from leading academics from various disciplines and policy-makers, and key participants in the process from the European Commission and the European Parliament.