The future of European agricultural policy. Some reflections inthe light of the proposals put forward by the EU Commission

In this paper we carried out an analysis of the path to reform the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) aiming to introduce some reflections in the light of the proposals put forward by the EU Commission. The series of four reforms has radically changed the face of the CAP and today we are moving to a new act on this long road, but one which seems set in a very different scenario from that experienced in the past. We present the reasons and implications of the unusual scenario in which the post-2013 CAP is set. An era of declining prices had accompanied the so-called “green revolution” and the formulas used in government intervention to stabilize agricultural markets had been rendered anachronistic. Today the situation is different and the rise and volatility in agricultural commodity prices recorded in recent years are pushing us towards a horizon of systematic market instability, in which the issue of security of supply has returned to the top of the agenda. In this context, we emphasized both the new institutional framework into which the reform is set, and the 2020 Strategy and the financial prospects of Europe against the backdrop of the economic crisis. We analyzed in details the key points of the Commission’s proposal, in the light of the evolution of the economic and institutional scenario, underlining the implications of the reform proposal for the Mediterranean areas