The European Model of Agriculture and World Trade: Reconfiguring Domestic Support

In: The Cambridge yearbook of European legal studies: CYELS, Band 5, S. 77-103

Abstract

The level of support to agricultural producers in the Community has remained high notwithstanding the commitments imposed under the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture ('URAA'). Thus, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ('OECD'), the 'producer support estimate' for the period 1986–1988 amounted to 44 per cent of gross farm receipts and the proportion rose marginally to 45 per cent in 1998. It may also be noted that, while the proportion in the case of the United States was approximately half that of the Community, the figure for 1998 was likewise not dissimilar from that for the period 1986–1988 (respectively 22 and 25 per cent). As a result, Cairns Group countries have felt able to direct strong criticism against the two great exporters of agricultural produce. This state of affairs was not unanticipated.