Evaluating EU Risk Management Instruments: Policy Lessons and Prospects for the Future

The objective is to summarise the policy-relevant conclusions that emerge from a thorough review of available risk management instruments. It builds on relevant literature, on recent work commissioned by EU institutions (Parliament: Cafiero et al. 2005, and the European Commission 2005, 2006a, 2006b) and on qualitative field work carried out in several EU member states. The distinction between business risks and catastrophic and crisis risks is briefly clarified. Member state data from the EC (2006a), combined with other sources and the authors' own findings, provide a snapshot of the current situation and of important trends. Subsequently the major findings of the literature about the advantages and disadvantages of the most common risk management instruments is elaborated on. Finaly, three proposals of the EC (EC, 2005), which have attracted most attention recently (Cafiero et al.2005; EC, 2006a), are discussed.JRC.G.3-Agricultur