A common agricultural fund

Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is back on the table once again - not that it has ever been absent for long. With the inter-governmental conference out of the way, the European Commission is due to present a major package of reforms during the summer of 1997. They will be designed to prepare the EU's agricultural sector for the challenges of enlargement and the next WTO trade round. Britain's new Labour government, like its predecessor, has put agricultural reform at the top of its European agenda, and has pledged that it will be a priority during its presidency of the European Union in the first half of 1998.