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This policy brief outlines the positions and relative influence of the main German stakeholders on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform. These became visible through responses to the Health Check agreement of the CAP and the upcoming Mid-Term Budget Review. Based on this analysis, the policy brief discusses the main issues and directions of the CAP debate in Germany and the likely overall German position towards the future CAP reform in Brussels.

As the largest absolute contributor to the EU Budget and the third largest CAP beneficiary, Germany represents a powerful actor in the current and future discussions on European agricultural policy. The recently completed (2008) Health Check and the upcoming (2009) Mid-Term Review of the EU’s Financial Perspective (hereafter “Budget Review”) provide two key processes of the current round of CAP reform. The Health Check agreement, with its focus on the period of 2009-2013, is a stepping-stone towards a potentially much more far-reaching reform that could be adopted within the context of the Budget Review for the programming period 2013-2020. Overall, the Health Check has a narrower stakeholder focus, whereas the Budget Review involves a larger pallet of stakeholders to define long-term priorities in which agricultural policy expenditure is evaluated against other EU policy areas.

Ecologic wrote this policy brief focusing on the following:

1. The presentation of the key national actors participating in the European agricultural policy debate, their possible influences and interests.
2. The current official German position within the CAP, its reactions to the Health Check agreements as well as reactions and positions of other actors at the national level playing a key role in shaping stakeholders’ positions.
3. The main issues and directions of the CAP debate in Germany and the outlook on the future German position towards the CAP reform.

This Policy Brief [pdf, 333 KB, English] can be downloaded here free of charge.