A study commissioned by the European Parliament endorses the ‘public money for public goods’ mantra.

The closer that CAP reform negotiations come to the finish line, the more will member states look at their financial bottom line. ‘How much do we pay, how much do we get?’ That question will concern finance ministers and heads of states at least as much as the objectives and instruments the CAP funds are spent on.

The German government has recently announced its position on the post-2013 CAP – which is at loggerheads with the call for reforms published by its scientific advisory bodies.

The mid-term evaluation of the 2007-13 rural development programs is underway. Its results will provide crucial input for the post-2013 CAP. But the inherent limitations of evaluation should equally inform policy design.

This week’s digest of CAP-related news and views

How effective is the evaluation of rural development policy? A practitioner’s opinion and a seminar.

This week’s digest of CAP-related news and views

The level of the CAP budget should be decided by a comprehensive justification of all expenditure not a gut feeling.

The EP own-initiative report on the post-2013 CAP is taking shape as a new draft has become available (dated 24.3.2010). Though it is better packaged, and sexed-up with a ‘green growth’ tag, the content is just as dull and conservative as the earlier draft. The report captures the intellectual deficiency of the CAP-insider bubble.
The draft ...

Eurobarometer survey gives the Commission the answers it wants.

The French President has grabbed the headlines but missed the point

For the entente cordiale, the British budget rebate and the CAP are a toxic combination.

Former OECD ag supremo demolishes the arguments.

The French President criticises subsidy dependency and calls for a return to community preference

The Presidency’s proposal on private storage for olive oil gets the Accidental Farmer thinking about the CAP’s market control mechanisms.

The German Council for Sustainable Development has issued a new call for reform of the CAP direct payments system, citing the damage done to the environment by intensive agriculture.

25 questions MEPs that should put to the man who – subject to their approval – will set the agenda for European food and farming policy over the next five years.

The budget monitoring website FollowTheMoney.eu is serialising a three part survey of the long history of fraud in the Common Agricultural Policy.