Directions of implementation of the common EU policy in the agricultural sector within the strategy «Europe 2020»

Abstract

The article reviewes the basic stages of the common agricultural policy (CAP) in the EU during the period from 1957 to 2020. It shows that the key principles of the CAP are a common market; advantages of the EU products; financial solidarity. It proves that, along with significant advantages, at the beginning of the twentieth century CAP had serious flaws: food prices for European consumers were significantly higher than the average ones to finance CAP a significant portion of the EU budget was directed; unequal distribution of subsidies make revenue growth in most small farms impossible; the negativThe article reveals that the reforms «Agenda 2000» were developed taking into account of EU enlargement in order to implement the European model of agriculture, which provides some form of support in rural areas.

The research demonstrates  that the EU Common Agricultural Policy will have the main distinctive features by 2020: the transition from product support to direct support of agricultural producers; expansion of rural development, diversification of incomes in rural areas; the transition to the policy «horizontal modulation»; the allocation of targeted subsidies on the development of depressed areas; the transition to the policy «cross liability»; implementation of special measures targeting agroecological direction; environmentally reasonable afforestation and conservation of agricultural land.