COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY – THE MAIN DRIVER OF SUSTAINABLE RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN EUROPEAN UNION

Abstract

Being one of the oldest common policies, common agricultural policy (CAP) has undergone several reforms being remodelled as "the project of a united Europe" was enriched with new meanings. In this context, it should be noted that, in recent years, CAP has been reshaped by a major reform that has set new goals and ways of achieving them under the framework of "Europe 2020" Strategy. Our paper aims to highlight that trough the last transformation, CAP has evolved from a policy with a strong degree of interventionism, to a policy that supports rural development, preserving the environment and the competitiveness of European agriculture.

Keywords

• Common Agricultural Policy
• rural development
• competitiveness
• agriculture