CAP Reform and the Objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy

While the Treaty objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) as now expressed in Article 39 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union may not themselves have been amended, this contribution considers whether amendments elsewhere within the Treaty, together with interpretation by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), have gone some way towards producing a broader Treaty framework, more sensitive to the numerous demands now being made of agriculture. Although there are grounds for holding that there is not full alignment between the current reform proposals and the Treaty objectives of the CAP as enshrined in Article 39(1) TFEU, together with the broader Treaty framework, some caution might be prudent before proceeding to major Treaty amendment. The original objectives as laid down in the Treaty of Rome have found a new resilience and are perhaps more relevant now than two decades ago, so any amendment might usefully take the form of expansion as opposed to deletion, as it is not difficult to conceive that each of the five original objectives will be accorded at least temporary priority over the years ahead.