In order to foster the competitiveness of the food supply chain, the European Commission is committed to promote and facilitate the restructuring and consolidation of the agricultural sector by encouraging the creation of voluntary agricultural producer organisations. To support the policy...

The EU has a long history of successful enlargements. In 1957, six founding members -Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands - signed the Treaty of Rome. Since then, four enlargement waves have followed. However, the enlargement facing the EU today is without precedent...

The accession of eight Central and Eastern European countries to the European Union in 2004 will bring some important benefits. The new members will gain from reduced barriers to trade and investment. By 2010, the movement of labour will also be freed. But accession to the EU is neither a...

On 1 May 2004 the EU will enlarge to 25 member states. Member states are uncertain what they will gain or lose from enlargement and they are concerned about the implications for the functioning of the EU. Talk is even of enlargement as a u0093leap in the darku0094. The reports in this study deal...

Wenn es um die Ausgaben aus dem EU-Haushalt geht, ist der Mehrwert ein Schlüsselelement jeder Diskussion. Diese Studie zielt darauf ab, die GAP im Kontext der EU-Ausgabenpolitik zu beschreiben und die Wirksamkeit sowie den Mehrwert zu analysieren, der durch die Direktzahlungen (erste Säule)...

The EU has highlighted the importance of using the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) to prevent the abandonment of high nature value farmland and its intensification as a key action to halt biodiversity decline. The present report sets out to assess whether the current distribution of CAP funds is...

Key messages: 1) Diverse climatic conditions, varied geology and morphology and centuries of pre- and post-industrial land use created Europe's diverse mosaic of cultural and natural landscapes, rich in biodiversity. 2) Europe's landscapes have become highly fragmented and homogenised,...

1. On 26 June 2013 the Commission, the European Parliament and the Councilreached a political agreement on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy(CAP). One of the key elements of the CAP reform is a significant modification ofthe application of competition rules in the agricultural sector....