The German Marshall Fund of the United States and Farmsubsidy.org are to host a briefing session on 'Budget Transparency in the European Union' on 7 May. It will mark the launch of a new farmsubsidy.org online database of farm subsidy payments.

On December 11th 2008, a conference organised by CSO (BirdLife International’s Czech partner) and ProBio (the Czech organic farmers' association) addressed two questions: Where should the CAP move after 2013? And, how will it be affected by the revision of the EU budget? The presentations are now available at the CSO website. They include those of 8 Member States who have set out their ideas for the future development of the CAP, as well as contributions on food security and high nature value farming. Ariel Brunner has previously summarised the outcomes of the conference for CAP2020.

The Land Use Policy Group will be launching its vision for the future of the CAP on 30 March.

The Commission is expected to present its plans for the future of the Less Favoured Area (LFA) measure in a Communication due to be published in April 2009. An oral statement provided by a senior Commission official to the UK House of Lords Select Committee on the European Union provides further information on the likely content of the proposal.

The Czech Presidency has presented four priorities for its work on agricultural policy to the end of June 2009, including the reform of the Less Favoured Area measure and the future of the CAP. Neither is likely to pass without controversy.

The European Court of Auditors has identified a number of systematic failures in the way in which cross compliance has been implemented since 2005.

While the outcome of the Health Check was regarded by many across Europe to play strongly to German interests, within the country opinions on the compromise vary widely.

On 9 December, Danuta Hübner, EU Commissioner for Regional Policy, presented the findings of a new report on the future challenges facing regions in Europe. The report provides input into the ongoing debate on the future of EU cohesion policy.

The French took the helm of the EU at a critical point in the development of the CAP. Taking over the six-month EU Presidency in July, French officials held the dual ambition of tying up one reform of the CAP and setting up the stall for the next. Whilst the French Presidency can take some satisfaction from concluding the Health Check, the parallel aim of reaching agreement on the longer term prospects for CAP reform has proved to be somewhat premature for a number of Member States.

Political agreement on the CAP Health Check was finally reached on Thursday 20 November after a long night of negotiations. In this briefing, we analyse the key outcomes.

This is one of four briefings written by IEEP to analyse the outcomes of the 2008 CAP Health Check. This briefing examines the changes to cross compliance, and examines the potential implications for the the EU's environmental baseline.

This is one of four briefings written by IEEP to analyse the outcomes of the 2008 CAP Health Check. In this briefing, we examine the outcomes for the dairy sector, and in particular the influence of Germany in shaping the compromise.

This is one of four briefings written by IEEP to analyse the outcomes of the 2008 CAP Health Check. This briefing examines Article 68, and the potential implications for the future development of the CAP.

A conference on the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) and its impact in Malta took place in Victoria – Gozo on 7-9 November 2008. It highlighted some of the challenges facing Maltese agriculture.

A package of mainly modest reforms to the CAP based on the Commission's Health Check proposals reached political agreement today (November 20).

A resolution on the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, adopted on 20 April by the European Parliament stresses that biodiversity should become a much higher political priority and should be better integrated into existing EU policies. In particular, it states that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should be a key tool for the conservation of biodiversity, alongside its role in food production and rural development. The forthcoming reform of the CAP, in conjunction with decisions on the next Multiannual Financial Framework, are key to halting the loss of biodiversity.

On Tuesday 6 March stakeholders involved in the CAP reform debate, researchers, representatives from the Commission, European Parliament, Member States, NGOs and farmer organisations, came together to engage in a constructive debate on how to get the most for the environment out of the Ecological Focus Area (EFA) measure under the CAP proposals for the greening of direct payments. The event, held in Brussels, was hosted by Scottish Natural Heritage on behalf of the UK statutory conservation, countryside and environment agencies and organised by IEEP.

The Danish Presidency of the EU began on 1 January 2012 outlining four principal themes for the forthcoming six months: 'A responsible Europe; a dynamic Europe; a green Europe; and a safe Europe’. In terms of the CAP reform discussions, the Danish EU Presidency and the Danish Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Mette Gjerskov, have stressed the need for both a green and market-oriented CAP.

The Commission published its Legal Proposals for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2013 on 12 October 2011. This is the first time that decisions on CAP reform have involved the European Parliament as well as the European Council under the ordinary legislative procedure. As such there is considerable uncertainty as to how long the process of negotiation and reaching agreement will take.