Review of the EU Common Agricultural Policy.

This chapter presents an overview of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and shows how the policy has evolved over the past decade in response to external and internal pressures for reform. First, the objectives of the CAP are outlined, indicating changes in objectives over time. Second, the interaction between reforms of the CAP and the trade negotiations in the World Trade Organization are analysed using the McSharry Reform, the 2000 Agenda, and the 2003 CAP reform as examples. Third, an overview of the CAP is presented, giving emphasis to the main principles of market policy and rural development, including a brief review of the EU Commission's proposal for rural development programmes for the years 2007-13. Fourth, the policy regimes for individual EU markets are analysed, giving details of the functioning of the CAP. Finally, the perspectives for development of the CAP are discussed.