An Inside View of the CAP Reform Process: Explaining the MacSharry, Agenda 2000, and Fischler Reforms

An Inside View of the CAP Reform Process is about EU decision-making, in particular for the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). From its formation in the 1960s through to 1992 the CAP was almost immune to change; but from 1992 a series of major reforms took place. Many authors have asked why and how this change came about, including academics writing from political economy and political science traditions, and EU officials themselves. With the benefit of Arlindo Cunha's intimate insider's knowledge, this book delves into the mysteries of the policy making process by assessing the MacSharry, Agenda 2000, and Fischler reforms, explaining how, and why, CAP reform became part of the political agenda, and the decisions that were taken. It focuses in particular on the role of the Commission and the Commissioner for Agriculture, the Council of Ministers and its Presidency, and the European Parliament. It adopts a heuristic political economy approach, drawing upon the economics and political science literatures as appropriate. The MacSharry reform was much influenced by the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations, and the 2003 Fischler reform by the Doha Round of WTO negotiations. A Delphi survey of key decision-makers, assessing their perception of the drivers of policy reform, and an analysis of subsequent CAP reform, including the Health Check in 2008 and preparations for the post-2013 CAP review, round-off the discussion. The former EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Franz Fischler, contributes a Foreword.

Table of Contents:
Franz Fischler: Foreword Preface List of Figures List of Tables List of Boxes List of Abbreviations 1: An Introduction to the CAP and the Book 2: EU Decision-making Institutions and their Role in the CAP 3: Farmers and Foreigners Seeking to Influence CAP Decision-making 4: CAP Negotiations in Practice 5: The 1992 MacSharry Reform 6: The 1999 Agenda 2000 Reform 7: The 2003 Fischler Reform 8: Exploring the Determinants of CAP Reform: A Delphi Survey of Key Decision-Makers 9: Beyond 2003: Via the Health Check to the New Uncertainties post-2013 10: Concluding Comments: Findings and Prospects Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Arlindo Cunha holds a degree in economics from the University of Porto and a PhD from the University of Reading. He worked as an economist and director at the Northern Portugal Regional Development Board (1976-86), and spent most of his life implementing the CAP and negotiating its reforms: was Minister of State at the Ministry of topiculture (1986-90), Minister for Agriculture (1990-94) and Member of the European Parliament (1994-2003). In 2003-2004 became President of Northern Portugal Regional Development Board and Minister of Environment, Cities, Regional Development and Land Planning (2004). He is presently Professor of European Economy at the Portuguese Catholic University-Porto. He has written:'A Role for Direct Payments? The Doha Round, EU Enlargement and Prospects for CAP Reform', in Swinbank and Tranter (eds.), A Bond Scheme for Common Agricultural Policy Reform (Wallingford: CABI Publishing) and other articles. Alan Swinbank retired as Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Reading, the UK, where he had been since 1977. In the mid-1970s he spent four years as a junior administrator in the Directorate-General for Agriculture in the Commission of the European Communities. His research and teaching focussed on the food and farm policies of the EU, and on the WTO (World Trade Organization) process of agri-food trade liberalisation. He has lectured and written extensively on these topics. In recent years he has published in the European Review of Agricultural Economics, the Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Food Policy, the Journal of Common Market Studies, the Journal of World Trade, The World Economy, and others. In 2009 he co-authored (with Carsten Daugbjerg) Ideas, Institutions and Trade: The WTO and the Curious Role of EU Farm Policy in Trade Liberalization published by Oxford University Press.

Review :
...the book makes a major contribution to the history of the construction of Europe... and is set to become a political science classic on the subject of European decision-making processes. this fine book is recommended to anyone interested in how EU institutions work with special reference to the CAP. As such, in addition to academics and graduate students interested in this area, in the light of the fact that the book is readable and that its analysis is very sound, I strongly recommend its reading to anyone directly or indirectly involved in the CAP decision-making process. The book is interesting, instructive and very well documented...the book is well worth reading because of the wealth of information it provides, as it is extremely well documented.