This paper outlines the reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) which form part of the Agenda 2000 Agreement that was agreed by EU heads of governments at Berlin summit in March 1999, and also refers to the potential impact of the Agreement's constrains through to 2000.
It notes that this reform (the '99 reform) was based on the '92 CAP reform and though it was intended to take those reforms further, it is in fact a watering-down of the Commission's legislative proposals of March 1998 and the Farm Council deal of March 11 1999.
The EU's strategy presumes that the reformed CAP can maintain the blue box exemptions and benefit large farm even into the next decade also. In the '99 reform the principle of subsidiarity is invoked in many areas: the national envelopes, agri-environmental schemes and the rural development policy. In view of the enlargement of the EU, the invoking of the principle of subsidiarity is of major importance for solving the budget problems of the CAP, since agriculture accounts for a large proportion of the GDP and employed population of the CEECs..
After a full analysis of the '99 reform, the paper suggests that the early part of the next decade will see a similar scenario to that which followed the '92 reform; i. e. that the next WTO round will prompt further fundamental reform of the CAP.