Public expectations and EU policies – Agriculture

A series of Briefings from the European Parliamentary Research Service which looks at EU actions in a series of policy areas. This follows up a public opinion survey organised by Eurobarometer for the European Parliament in April 2016 which asked the question: Would you like the EU to intervene less than at present or more than at present for the following policy areas?

Terrorism / Unemployment / Tax fraud / Migration / Borders / Democracy / Environment / Security and defence / Health / Gender equality / Energy / Economy / Foreign policy / Agriculture / Industrial policyThe Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one of the EU's oldest policies, although it has been the subject of various reforms over the years. For more than five decades it has provided Europe with a secure food supply and a living countryside. There is thus a high level of public awareness of the support the EU provides to farmers, though a much lower proportion of the population know the details.

Half of EU citizens would like to see stronger EU intervention in agriculture, although levels of support differ among Member States. Following the most recent CAP reforms in 2013, to which the European Parliament made a strong contribution, important changes were made to the CAP. These included a new system of direct payments whose basic component is support for farmers' income, as well as greater flexibility given to Member States. The budgetary resources devoted to the CAP have been reduced.

The mid-term review planned for 2017 will offer an opportunity to review a range of policy implementation issues. The role of the European Parliament as co-legislator is significant in this process and in any future decisions on a post 2020 CAP.

Authors: James McEldowney, Matthew Parry, Alina Dobreva