SABIIA - Sistema Aberto e Integrado de Informação em Agricultura (Sabiia)

To attain fundamental reform of the post-2013 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), a serious debate is needed in 2009/10 that prepares the decisions to be taken in 2011/12. The paper contributes to this debate, first, by arguing that the Single Farm Payment should not become the mainstay of the future CAP but be gradually phased out. Second, it proposes that the existing two-pillar structure of the CAP should be replaced by a public goods pillar (containing all efficient policies to be preserved) and a discretionary pillar (encompassing all inefficient policies to be removed over time). This would give member states flexibility in how they phase out inefficient policies, while the EU reform agenda would not be clogged with the contentious details of their...

A Blueprint for Reform of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture

Palavras-chave: CAP; Subsidies; Budget review; Agricultural and Food Policy; Political Economy.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/51300

As the Doha negotiations are at a dead end, this paper takes a step back to address the future direction of WTO disciplines in agriculture. It puts members’ negotiating positions and the draft modalities with their ever growing list of exceptions aside to focus on three fundamental questions. First, which agricultural policy instruments should be permitted or prohibited by WTO disciplines so as to best account for the manifold effects of agriculture on societies’ welfare? Second, how should inefficient agricultural policies be treated as long as their removal is politically infeasible? And third, how can the WTO facilitate agricultural policy reform beyond establishing maximum thresholds for distorting policies? The paper argues for moving from the current...

Reforming the EU's Common Agricultural Policy: Health Check, Budget Review, Doha Round

Palavras-chave: Agricultural and Food Policy; Food Security and Poverty; International Relations/Trade; Political Economy.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/47798

Policy-makers are quarrelling about the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). France intends to conclude a CAP reform during its 2008 EU Presidency before a thorough Budget Review is due in 2009 that will revise CAP spending. The Doha Round of WTO negotiations might necessitate further decisions on agricultural tariff cuts at any time. This Policy Brief provides recommendations for agricultural policy reform in the EU. It argues, first, that all measures that distort market prices and production should be abolished. This includes production quotas, land set-asides, storage aids, export refunds, output payments, and area payments. Second, the Single Farm Payment (SFP), which provides income support to farmers independently of their current...

Transparency of Complex Regulation: How Should WTO Trade Policy Reviews Deal with Sanitary and Phytosanitary Policies?

Palavras-chave: CAP; EU; Multifunctionality; Subsidies; Agricultural and Food Policy; Food Security and Poverty; Political Economy.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/47838

Sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures that protect human, animal, and plant health are impeding trade and provoking high-profile disputes. This paper argues that the WTO’s Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM) could play an important role in defusing the trade-disrupting potential of SPS regulation. The most promising avenue is to review in greater detail the policy-making procedures that lead to SPS measures. How transparent and independent are countries’ risk assessments of health hazards? Which provisions have countries taken to account for trade effects when selecting SPS measures? Do countries give foreign interests adequate possibility to voice their concerns over proposed SPS regulation? If reviews motivate countries to improve their...