eunion1-3, Exercise 1: The Common Agricultural Policy

Model answer:

The CAP, launched in the early 1960s, guaranteed prices to farmers and protected the market from cheaper imports. It aimed to secure food supplies, support farm incomes and modernise agriculture after the shortages of the war years.

Unintended effect: guaranteed prices encouraged over-production, so by the 1970s and 1980s the Community held large surpluses, remembered as "butter mountains" and "wine lakes".

It explains many budget arguments because for decades it took the largest share of the Community's budget (around two thirds at one point), caused disputes with the United States over trade, and shaped the British grievance over what the UK paid in and received back.