This paper analyses the effects of decoupling (as introduced in the 2003 reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy) on farm income and investment behaviour. The results of a dynamic multi-objective household model for 80 farm households in 8 EU countries are analysed and presented through a...

The proposed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the period 2021–2027 will be more flexible and, presumably, more effective. To provide for sufficient ambition and prevent a race to the bottom, national strategic plans will be introduced with quantitative targets covering both policy pillars....

Since the 1980s, the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy has undergone a series of reforms that were facilitated by the changes in decision-making rules such as the introduction of the qualified majority vote. This article argues that the introduction of the co-decision procedure under...

Direct payments were originally justified as a mechanism to compensate farmers for the income loss incurred due to reduced intervention prices. However, this rationale is not valid any more, and a new justification for basic income support by granting basic decoupled direct payments has been...

That the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Community is in need of reform is by now commonly accepted. But all moves for a reform on the political level have been postponed until after the French elections in the spring, a fact which highlights the political problems. Is there a real...

Much criticism notwithstanding, the essentials of the common agricultural policy have up to now scarcely been changed. What kind of basic changes would have to be introduced for a new agricultural policy to become also politically acceptable? The following article suggests alternatives to the...