Food policy volatility and EU policies

Abstract

Changes in global food prices have affected EU producers and consumers and have triggered policy reactions through the EU’s political process. In particular, the EU and member states responded by social policies to protect their consumers, attempts to regulate ‘speculation’ on agricultural commodities, revisions of sustainability requirements for biofuels, international development and food aid, and changes in the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). With the exception of biofuel regulations, policy changes have been relatively limited and the effects on global food markets minor. The reasons are that the impact of global price volatility on EU consumers has been limited and the link between the CAP and the world market is much smaller than it was twenty years ago.

Citation

Swinnen, J.; Knops, L.; Van Herck, K. Food policy volatility and EU policies. UNU-WIDER, Helsinki, Finland (2013) 35 pp. ISBN 978-92-9230-60-609-0 [WIDER Working Paper No. 2013/032]

Food policy volatility and EU policies

Updates to this page

Published 1 January 2013