This paper represents the first step of a wider research project on the relation between the EU institutional settings and the policy outcome. We specifically tackle the CAP definition process and the role of the Commission inside consultation procedure, proposing a case study on the sugar CMO...

In the years to come Rural Development Policies will be an increasingly important part of EU Cohesion Policies. In particular, Convergence Regions with a high percentage of rural areas and a major development gap will be the most affected by this scenario. The objectives of this paper are...

In 2005, Germany implemented the Single Payment Scheme which lead to the conversion of direct payments into tradable, production decoupled, single farm payments. The transition from coupled to decoupled support instruments may impact the rate of structural change. The rate of structural change...

In periurban areas agriculture can assume a multifunctional role that includes landscape conservation, sustainable resource management, biodiversity conservation, leisure activities, and can also maintain adequate conditions in densely populated areas for a safe and habitable environment. This...

The 2003 Common Agricultural Policy Reform aimed to promote the socio-economic and environmental sustainability of agricultural systems. An important question is how far the Reform has indeed encouraged farmers to contribute to achieving broad economic and environmental goals. The economic and...

This analysis has examined the relationships between the European funds for rural development and the multifunctionality during a short time, comparing two different situations before and after the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform. The main problem was to find a variable able to describe...

The New Member States did not yet have to implement the full cross-compliance package. Currently the GEAC requirements in the conditionality clause for the direct payments. The SMRs will become part of it starting from 2009. This paper looks into the Polish case and looks whether timely...

The decoupling of direct payments, caused by the introduction of the Single Payment Scheme (SPS), has generated an incentive for farmers to decrease the production of cereals, oilseeds and protein crops (COP) and (because of the reform of sugar CMO) sugar beet. In some cases, this has also...

In the so-called Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 'Health Check' the European Commission has recently proposed gradual transitional measures to allow a 'soft landing' of the milk sector to quota expiry. The aim of this paper is to support policy makers to get better insights in the implications...

The article makes an attempt to answer the question: how direct payments affected the land market in Poland? The first part of the article explains the theoretical aspects of direct payments as an instrument of agricultural policy and their prospective effectiveness. Also the special character...