Tag: developing countries

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Taking developing country interests into account when designing Green Deal trade policies

Today I gave a presentation on the implications of the European Green Deal  for agri-food trade with developing countries to a webinar organized by the European Landowners’ Organisation (ELO) (the presentation can be downloaded here and you can also listen to the presentation itself as well as the webinar as a whole at the following link). The presentation was based on a paper I am preparing on this topic commissioned by the ELO and the issues raised at the webinar will feed into the final version of the paper.

The urgent need to address the challenges that face our food system, to provide healthy and adequate nutrition for all and ensure decent livelihoods while remaining within planetary boundaries, is not in question. The European Green Deal and Farm to Fork Strategy requires that food placed on the market should not only be safe but also sustainable and contribute to better health outcomes.… Read the rest

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Impact of the CAP on developing countries

The impact of the CAP on developing countries continues to be a topic of great interest to many people, particularly in the context of the EU’s commitment to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Together with Rossella Soldi, I recently completed a report evaluating the impact of the EU’s current agricultural policy on the agriculture of developing countries which was commissioned by the European Committee of the Regions and which is now available on its website.

The terms of reference for the study asked for an evaluation of the impact of current CAP subsidies on the price of EU food produced and exported to developing countries. The research is intended to contribute to the current debate on how the proposed reform of the Common Agricultural Policy may minimise its impact on developing countries coherently with EU development cooperation’s objectives. As developing countries are increasingly heterogeneous, the focus of the study is on developing countries facing particular problems of food insecurity.… Read the rest

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The CAP and its limited effect on development

Dr Bettina Rudloff of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik / German Institute for International and Security Affairs and Michael Brüntrup of the Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik / German Development Institute recently published a joint briefing paper on the implications of CAP reform for development. Their paper is available in English to download here, and they have contributed the following abstract.

For a long time the CAP has been accused of causing damage to developing countries. However, several reforms have limited these risks to a handful of issues. Especially further coupling and the missing internalization of costs related to climate and the environment are the remaining risks for developing countries.

Other risks can arise due to the complex interplay of the CAP with other policies like trade or energy policy, which is relevant for biofuel or soy imports. Such risks can only be partly addressed by CAP reform, i.e. not to extend coupling.… Read the rest

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The CAP and migration

One of the more unexpected sections in the Commission Communication The Future of Food and Farming published in November 2017 was the very final section on Migration. This begins “The future CAP must play a larger role in implementing the outcome of the Valetta (sic) Summit, addressing the root causes of migration.” This is, to my knowledge, the first time that an explicit link has been made between the CAP and migration pressures from countries outside the EU in a Commission publication. For example, in the most recent EU Policy Coherence for Development report from 2015, the section on agricultural policy makes no reference to migration.

The root causes of migration

However, 2015 was the year in which more than one million undocumented migrants and refugees arrived in Europe, and several thousands more died in their attempt to cross the Mediterranean. In May of that year, the Commission published its communication A European Agenda on Migration.… Read the rest

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Implications of Brexit for developing countries’ agri-food trade

Back to Brexit, I’m afraid, but I thought readers of this blog might be interested in a recent working paper I have written on this topic. Brexit (the UK’s exit from the European Union) will have important repercussions for the agri-food trade of developing countries because of the UK’s size (it is the sixth largest economy in the world) and its important role as an importer of agri-food products (it accounts for 12% of the EU’s imports from developing countries). These effects will occur through a variety of different channels.

Some of the key conclusions of the paper are:

• There will be higher trade costs for UK-EU27 trade. The size of these additional trade costs will depend on whether there is a ‘hard’ Brexit (where the UK makes a disorderly departure on 29 March 2019 without any trade agreement in place) or a ‘soft’ Brexit (where the UK makes an orderly departure following a transition period under the terms of an agreed Withdrawal Agreement (WA) on 31 December 2020 and a free trade agreement including agricultural trade enters into force immediately thereafter).… Read the rest

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Analysis of the Commission’s legislative proposals due tomorrow Wednesday 12 October

Tomorrow the Commission will unveil its legislative proposals for the future CAP regulations after 2013. As readers of this blog will be aware, the proposals have been widely flagged in various leaked draft versions. But it will be fascinating to see to what extent, if at all, the the final version will take account of the intense lobbying of the Commission by member states in recent weeks.

The International Centre for Sustainable Trade and Development (ICSTD) has just published a draft paper that I have written which attempts to summarise the likely changes to be announced tomorrow and to assess their implications for trade and development. This version is obviously preliminary, and it will be revised in the light of the actual legislative proposals. I hope to provide my own assessment of any significant changes from the leaked draft versions on this blog over the next couple of days.… Read the rest

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Analysis of the Commission's legislative proposals due tomorrow Wednesday 12 October

Tomorrow the Commission will unveil its legislative proposals for the future CAP regulations after 2013. As readers of this blog will be aware, the proposals have been widely flagged in various leaked draft versions. But it will be fascinating to see to what extent, if at all, the the final version will take account of the intense lobbying of the Commission by member states in recent weeks.
The International Centre for Sustainable Trade and Development (ICSTD) has just published a draft paper that I have written which attempts to summarise the likely changes to be announced tomorrow and to assess their implications for trade and development. This version is obviously preliminary, and it will be revised in the light of the actual legislative proposals. I hope to provide my own assessment of any significant changes from the leaked draft versions on this blog over the next couple of days.… Read the rest