ABSTRACT
The reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) under the guidance of Ray MacSharry, the EC Commissioner for Agriculture, is perhaps the most striking and significant change in the domestic agricultural policy of a major country or economic area in the post-war period. Understanding the process of reform and the conditions under which it took place is important to the study of the broader reform process. This chapter explores the events leading up to the May 1992 meeting of the Council of Agriculture Ministers at which, under the chairmanship of Arlindo Cunha, member states agreed to change the direction of the CAP. The change had highly significant implications for the path of reform of the international trade system in agricultural goods, as is discussed in a subsequent chapter.
