Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
30
UK
IE
NL
BEL
FR
SP
PT
GER
AT
IT
GrE
FI
SWE
DK
FIGURE 4.3. Distribution of CAP Expenditure By Country (as a percentage of total
CAP expenditures) (
Source:
Author's elaboration on data from European Commission
(
2004
))
25
20
15
10
5
0
production. France is the biggest beneficiary of community agricultural expen-
diture, largely because of the size of its share of agricultural employment and
output.
2
As a result, CAP reforms are as much about redistribution between
countries as they are about transfers to individual farmers.
The second major component of the EU budget corresponds to the Struc-
tural and Cohesion Funds (SCF). This rubric includes a plethora of programs
designed to reduce economic disparities within the union. The SCF are the Euro-
pean Union's main instruments for supporting social and economic restructur-
ing across the Union. They account for over one third of the European Union
budget and are used to tackle regional disparities and support regional develop-
ment through actions including developing infrastructure and telecommunica-
tions, developing human resources, and supporting research and development.
3
More recently, the objectives of these programs have been reduced to three:
(1) to promote development and structural adjustment in regions that have a
2
Obviously, causality here is a tricky matter in that the CAP has generated incentives to concen-
trate production in certain sectors and sustain an otherwise economically inefficient agricultural
sector.
3
These include: the European Regional Development Fund, set up in 1975, to promote develop-
ment in the following areas: transport, communication technologies, energy, the environment,
research and innovation, social infrastructure, training, urban redevelopment and the conver-
sion of industrial sites, rural development, the fishing industry, and tourism and culture. In
turn, created in 1957, the ESF is the EU's main source of financial support for efforts to develop
employability and human resources. It helps Member States combat unemployment, prevent peo-
ple from dropping out of the labor market, and promote training to make Europe's workforce
and companies better equipped to face new, global challenges.; and the Financial Instrument for
Fisheries, established in 1994, for the structural reform of the fisheries sector. In addition, the
structural funds also include the guidance section of the European Agricultural Guidance and
Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), devoted to rural development.
