The Common Agricultural Policy ,or CAP, is a complex system of subsidies paid by the EU to farmers.

Member States have to contribute to a central pool, which the EU government than divides as it sees fit. Agriculture has been one of the flagship areas of European collaboration since the early beginning of the Union. Common policies of the EU members helped to reduce reliance on imported food and bolstered a huge industrial gross in this branch of economy. Additional measures included taxing imports and subsiding agricultural exports, which have been damaging foreign farmers through unprecedented damping and made Europes inner market food prices some of the highest in the world. But in turn it helps to uphold the prosperity of rural societies throughout the EU. So the phenomenon of CAP seems to be rather a controversial issue. And no wonder that it has always been a traditional battle-ground of laissez-faire and interventionist ideologies. The first group advocates a complete scrapping of CAP and establishing a free market, the other party claims for preserving the unique agricultural model. On the one hand, opponents of the CAP regard it as an outrage for consumers. Obviously, these are ordinary people who are called to carry the burden for maintaining and improving farmers incomes, let alone a huge bulk of resources devoted within the CAP. The scrapping of the CAP will maximize consumer choice and reveal if there is a proper demand for local goods or this artificially supporting farms is a complete waste of money. So that Unemployment among farmers is an acceptable price to pay. The ending of CAP would release up over 40% of EU expenditure. It could be used far more constructively elsewhere. Moreover, doubts has been expressed about EUs capacity to incorporate new members into the CAP framework. Eastern inefficient economies can devastate the Union finantially. The CAP is also unfair for many states in the EU. Such sophisticated economies as the UK or Germany although they contribute a large amount to the CAP, they receive comparatively little. The CAP punishes countries with efficient agricultural sectors and supports inefficient ones. Once such a lavish subsidies have resulted in massive over-production and the creation of mountains of surplus goods. And now farmers are paid to stop cultivating their lands which seems senseless to any conscious human being. It might be easily prohibited on a low-based grounds.

Proponents of the common policies traditionally assume the CAP as a lifeblood of European rural development. It gives indigenous farmers a helping hand to preserve their methods, protect their local economies , traditions and livehoods. Besides it is called to reverse the trend of depopulation

Thats why agricultural decision makers are often blamed for unwillingness to seize opportunities for substantive reforms.