Agriculture Council fun: rename the CAP

Agra-Facts is one of the best CAP news sources, although it does come with a fairly hefty price tag that probably puts it out of reach of anyone who is not professionally involved in European agriculture policy. Roger Waite, Agra Facts editor, tells me that he would like to open the Agra Facts competition to ‘rename the CAP’ to readers of this blog. Here are the details, and be sure to scroll down the page for our exclusive interactive name generator tool.

As part of Agra Facts contribution to the forthcoming CAP Health Check, we would like to hold a survey about a new name for the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP). Finding a new name is consistent with bringing the old policy into the 21st Century (as with the various reforms of recent years). Given that in some parts of the EU the term “CAP” is synonymous with market-distorting price support and production surpluses (and dominating so much of the EU budget), a new name would presumably also help public perception that any budgetary commitments after 2013 would be for a modern, reformed policy, rather than the original priorities of the 1950s & 1960s. Our intention is to pass on a list with all suggestions to the Commission’s DG AGRI in early March in the hope that these suggestions can feed into the debate on the Health Check. We thought we would offer a prize for the best entry – in the view of the Agra Facts editorial team – and on a slightly lighter note, a 2nd prize for the “most original” acronym offered – as judged by Agra Facts. One obvious prize would be a copy of the Health Check legislative proposals personally signed by Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel, but we are also open to original alternative ideas for prizes.

Please send all ideas for new names for the CAP (in any EU language) to info@agrafacts.com before the end of February mentioning your suggested policy name & acronym (and potential prize). Roger gives the assurance that all entrants also have the right to remain anonymous.

To help readers come up with some truly original and inspiring names for the CAP, I can present the exclusive CAPHealthCheck.eu interactive name generator tool. Just click the button to try again.

Rename the CAP!

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