Globalising Hunger
Food Security and the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
An analysis of how the EU Common Agricultural Policy and its external trade policy increases import dependency and undermines food security in developing countries, contributing to the escalating food crisis.
After several rounds of reforms, the European Union’s (EU) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is once again facing a comprehensive overhaul. By 2013, the current CAP will come to an end, yet the debate over its future has already begun. The discussion over the €57 billion spent on the CAP today – amounting to more than 40 percent of the EU’s budget – takes place against the backdrop of a dramatic worsening of the global food crisis, associated with rising and more volatile food prices.1 For 2010, the number of hungry was estimated at 925 million people, up from 833 million in 2000-2002.2 Although the Common Agricultural Policy strongly influences the state of poverty and food insecurity in the world, its external dimension is barely taken into account in the current debate.
Recent publications from Trade & Investment
The right to say noAs European Union (EU) member states consider the implications of environmentally risky shale gas development (fracking), negotiations are underway for a controversial EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) which would grant investors the right to challenge governments’ decision to ban and regulate fracking. |
The EU trade and Investment Agenda: quashing the aspirations of the Arab Spring?The EU's launch of negotiations for Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements (DCFTAs) with four Arab countries in transition – Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia - looks set to entrench an economic model that was one of the root causes of the Arab Spring. |
Balancing Trade and AidBalancing Trade and Aid With the arrival of the Rutte II cabinet, a wish of the members of the Fair, Green and Global Alliance (FGG) has come true; trade and global development are under the supervision of the same minister. |
Intra-EU Bilateral Investment TreatiesCorporations in Western Europe are suing Central and Eastern European countries at international arbitration tribunals through a vast web of intra-EU Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs). Yet while the European Commission has questioned the validity of these BITs, Netherlands, Germany, and the UK, oppose their termination. |
Tags
Upcoming events
