In late 2009, leading agricultural economists from all over Europe issued a declaration on ‘A Common Agricultural Policy for European Public Goods’. They proposed the abolition of market intervention and blanket income support to farmers, and outlined a more efficient, greener CAP. Since then, DG Agriculture, the European Parliament and many member states have adopted positions that closely stick to the status quo. Now a new declaration ‘For an Ambitious Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy’ has been published.

The German Advisory Council on the Environment calls for a fundamental re-orientation of European agricultural policy in its statement on CAP-reform.

The UK's House of Lords EU Committee yesterday published its report on adapting agriculture and forestry to climate change. The Committee’s inquiry has focused on the European Commission White Paper, Adapting to Climate Change: Towards a European framework for action from April 2009.

Many argue that we should first agree on the objectives of the future CAP, then select the most suitable policy instruments, and talk about financing only at the very end. This contribution submits four theses on co-financing, asking ‘how strong is the European interest, and how can CAP contributions to agricultural subsidies be adapted to it’?