Comments on: CAP Research File

By: oscar

oscar — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 19:11:21 +0000

im no expert on cap,
but what about de-coupling? as in the changing of the cap grant to a fixed amount regardless of levels of production.

at the momnent the i think its dairying farming which has been decoupled in ireland effective from this year on i think.

By: rjw

rjw — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 17:32:09 +0000

The big bust up at the last European summit seems to have led to a period of quiet. Perhaps everyone recognises that no deal on the next Financial Perspective is possible under the British presidency.

What is a little disappointing is that so far the Brits have come up with no sensible proposals for a compromise. That is, they can’t say what they actually want. What an acceptable deal would be.

Whether they are just keeping powder dry , or whether they really have no practical ideas, I’m not too sure.

By: ivan

ivan — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 07:49:48 +0000

Why not just abolish the CAP? I doesn’t make sense in any way. It prohibits market access for poor developing countries, it hurts poor farmers in Europe and benefits the rich ones (such like prince Charles and the Queen of England), it doesn’t do the environment any good and it’s bad for tax payers. It gives loads of money into the hands of a sector that contributes at most 2% of GDP.

By: Oliver

Oliver — Sat, 20 Aug 2005 18:39:15 +0000

If we are spending that much, we should get some production out of it. That much money as a welfare measure in the EU’s hands is not sustainable.

By: CapTVK

CapTVK — Sat, 20 Aug 2005 03:08:07 +0000

This will certainly make some reading material but i have a small tidbit to add too.

Just where and to whom does all that money flow anyway? Certainly not to farmers who have trouble making ends meet but to those who can…

http://www.ceps.be/Article.php?article_id=470

The ?non? was also against the CAP

Prof. Richard Baldwin, Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, 22 June 2005

” 2.Who gets the CAP spending?

The French political elite ? left, right and centre ? has been using farmers as a political crutch for decades. They make voters think that the CAP helps hard-working, hard-pressed farmers. They evoke images that remind the average French voter (urban service worker) of their grandfather: a simple, honest peasant scratching out a hard but honourable living while feeding the nation. When Chirac stands up for the CAP, it is easy to think he is defending the interests of guys garbed in rubber boots and a blue overall, but that is just plain wrong. The CAP is a programme designed to channel most of the money to elite farmers and wealthy landowners; past efforts to fix this have been rejected by France and Germany.[1]

As Table 1 shows, most of France?s CAP spending goes to the big farms. The owners of these farms are, almost by definition, millionaires.[2]Here are some facts that should shock believers in the social market economy:

? The 10 largest French farms get, on average, ?400,000 each. Needless to say, these 10 farms are owned by wealthy landowners.

? Farmers in the smallest class size get ?500 each. Most of these farmers have to work off of the farm in order to make ends meet.

? One-quarter of all of France?s CAP payments goes to 5% of French farmers; these lucky 5% are the largest, richest farmers.

? Two-fifths of French farmers ? the small ones ? receive together only 5% of France?s CAP payments.”