Common Agricultural Policy

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Following an enquiry made by Stephen Hoffman, an intern for The Freedom Association, there has been a response from DEFRA
about the Common Agricultural Policy. Firstly, the message states that
the CAP accounts for nearly 43% of the EU budget, costing over 60
billion Euros each year. Shockingly, in the 2009/2010 year, over
£12,377,269 in subsidies was paid to landlords owning over a million
pounds. Detailed CAP payments can be found on this website.
Clearly not all of those who benefit from these subsidies are in dire
need of money, and yet the EU continues to pursue this policy.

The World Trade Organisation's
Doha Development Agenda (DDA), seeks to move towards a better trading
situation between both developed and developing countries. They have
stated that they wish to see an 80% reduction in EU farm subsidies, a
reduction in tariffs to allow increased global access to markets, and
an elimination of EU export subsidies. It is clear that from an
international point of view the Common Agricultural Policy is damaging,
and yet it seems unlikely that the EU will change policy in the way the
DDA wishes it to.

Export subsidies are thought to
artificially reduce world prices in a way that harms producers in other
countries. There is also an average EU tariff of 20%, reaching up to
70% for certain commodities. These tariffs lead to high food prices,
and stop other countries from competing in the market. This is
especially ironic given the tendency for Europhiles to mention that the
EU is a free trade zone, and therefore our membership to it is
beneficial. Surely if free trade is a beneficial policy, the EU itself
should not be imposing tariffs on other countries! These tariffs have
meant that in 2008, consumers in the UK had to pay an extra £3.6bn on
agricultural products than they would without the CAP, which, of
course, harms the poorest in society the most.

Overall it
is clear that the EU should reform the disastrous CAP, yet is it
equally obvious that this will never happen because the status quo
benefits France, a powerful member of the EU. On this issue, even
supporters of the EU tend to agree that reform is necessary, but I
would question the likelihood of that ever happening from the inside.
When huge gains are given to a small amount of people, with small costs
given to millions, injustice is always preserved because there is an
incentive to form a lobbying pressure group for those who benefit, and
there is not enough reason to go through the costs of opposing the
legislation for those who are hurt by the policy. It is not in the EU's
nature to allow the necessary reforms to happen, even in the face of
international pressure. The only way to relieve ourselves from the
burden of the CAP would be to withdraw from the European Union entirely.