Setting the next agenda? British and French approaches to the second pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy

The paper examines the key new discretionary features of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after the Agenda 2000 reforms. These include the possibilities for reallocating a proportion of farmers’ direct payments and the implementation of the Rural Development Regulation, hailed by the European Commission as the new ‘second pillar’ to the CAP. The paper compares and contrasts the ways in which Britain and France are taking a lead in using these features, according to their distinctive national agricultural agendas and rural priorities, and considers the implications for the future development of European policy.