Overview
The European Union (EU) expanded from 15 to
25 countries in 2004 and to 27 in 2007 (adding Bulgaria
and Romania). The EU
accounted for about 17 percent of the world's agricultural
exports and imports in 2005. The EU-27 is one of the
most important trading partners and competitors of the
United States in world agricultural markets. European
agricultural policy has long had a major impact on world
agricultural markets, and the EU is one of the key participants
in World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations on agricultural
trade. ERS provides information and analysis on the EU
agricultural sector, particularly on issues related to
policy, enlargement, and WTO commitments.
Features
The EU Sugar Policy Regime and Implications of Reform (July 2008). The European Union's sugar policy underwent its first major reform in 2005 in response to mounting and unsustainable imbalances in supply and demand. The reform targeted only a few policy instruments (intervention price cut, voluntary production quota buyout, and restrictions on nonquota sugar exports), while leaving other key policies unchanged (interstate quota trading, sugar-substitute competition, and import barriers). A model-based analysis suggests that the initial reforms by themselves are unlikely to reduce overproduction due to the oligopolistic nature of the EU sugar market.
European
Union Adopts Significant Farm Reform (September
2004). The EU continued to reform its Common Agricultural
Policy (CAP) in 2003-04 and will continue in 2005,
building on earlier reforms enacted since 1992. The
latest reforms move to fully decoupled payments through
a single farm payment, which has important implications
for WTO negotiations and EU farmers'
decisions on what to produce. For the full report, see
CAP Reform of 2003-04 (August 2004).
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