Political developments in Central and Eastern Europe and the process of German unification present the EC with a major challenge. How has the EC reacted to these changes so far? What contribution can the EC make to overcoming the division of Europe?

After protracted negotiations, the EC Ministers of Agriculture agreed on a reform of the Common Agricultural Policy on July 1st. Will this reform solve the fundamental problems plaguing the common agricultural market? Is it compatible with the GATT?

Before the European summit in February 1988, EC agricultural policy was being criticized by almost all those affected. Farmers complained about low incomes and the lack of prospects, consumers and taxpayers about the high cost of agricultural support, politicians about spending commitments that...

Farming worldwide and national agricultural policies are in a profound crisis. Farmers everywhere are complaining about inadequate incomes. A large proportion of farms are threatened on both sides of the Atlantic, in the EC no less than in the USA. This situation has coincided with a period of...

The first step towards reform of the EC was taken when the Single European Act came into force in July of this year. What concrete decisions must the member states now take? What are their chances of being implemented?

That the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Community is in need of reform is by now commonly accepted. But all moves for a reform on the political level have been postponed until after the French elections in the spring, a fact which highlights the political problems. Is there a real...

The recent announcement of the French Government's decision to support the French agriculture this spring by direct income transfers to the tune of ffr 4.6 bn brings home the fact that some national governments need national autonomy in agricultural policy. Regrettably it seems to foreshadow an...

After ratification by member countries, the "Luxembourg reform package" worked out by the European Council at the end of 1985 is to provide the basis for the development of the European Community into the nineties. What are the challenges facing the EC? What opportunities do the Luxembourg...

The European Parliament was set up by direct elections in June 1979. Great expectations had been placed in these direct elections with regard to the further development of the European Community. Now, half-way through the Parliament’s five-year term, a certain Euro-weariness is gaining ground....