La politique agricole commune

Agricultural activity has always been multifunctional: it produces food, influences natural resources, landscapes, biodiversity, land use, employment in rural zones and finally, it contributes to safety and hygiene in food products. Since 1997 – and this is new - the European Union wants the CAP to recognize and compensate for this characteristic of agricultural activity. This book is a study of sizeable agricultural systems in representative EU member countries. It sheds light on the various concepts and debates on CAP reform. It then analyses the new CAP to determine whether the new system maintains the originality of the "European agricultural model".