Agricultural Policy and the European Union :: Political Politics

Agricultural Policy and the European UnionDiscuss the coition merits/demerits of an awkward policy orientated to price reform rather than adept based upon structural reorganisationThe common market shall extend to gardening and trade in agriculturalproducts. Agricultural products means the products of the soil, ofstock-farming and of fisheries and products of first-stage processingdirectly link to these products....The operation and development of thecommon market for agricultural products must be accompanied by theestablishment of a common agricultural policy among the Member States (1)From the beginning of the European Union, EU policy has given accent mark tothe agricultural sector. To this end, a Common Agricultural Policy ( pennant)was established in 1963. (2) Provisions for this policy were made in the pact of Rome. The aims of this policy were to enlarge agriculturalproductivity, to ensure a fair standard of living for the agriculturalcommunity, to stabilise markets and to ensure reasonable prices for theconsumer. (3) This is unusual in the context of the Treaty of Rome whichprovided for free trade and movement of resources. Agriculture wasill-adapted for this approach. Protection was given, non only by customsduties, but also by a variety of agricultural policies. This essay willdiscuss the merits and demerits of a the pre-1992 CAP with its emphasis onprice reform, in comparison with the post-1992 CAP which was oriented tostructural reform. It cannot be denied that there were merits of the pre-1992 price reformpolicy. There was a bountiful nutrient supply with an increased variety and meter of food. Farmers yields increased, in particular the largefarmers. Producers were protected from the external market due to community taste sensation and, therefore, domestic agriculture could develop. There werealso spin offs in food production. Although some of the policies createdgood returns for farmers, the demerits of said policies far outweighed anyadvantages they had. The core-periphery divide was widened, quantity becamemore important than quality and consumers had to pay higher prices.Agricultural practices caused maltreat to the environment and internationaltrading relations were strained.Until 1993 the EU rarely support farmers by paying them direct subsidiesfrom the taxpayers. (4) Instead the 30 billion ECU (and a good deal more) wasspent in the buying up of surplus commodities at token(prenominal) official pricesand was also used to pay subsidies to traders to sell surpluses on thelower-priced creation markets. (5) During the 1960s the price system wasdevised. The first problem with price policies is that of fluctuating anddiffering alter rates. Green Money was the first solution to bedeveloped to income tax return the problem of differing exchange rates.