page_title: Common Agricultural Policy
section_title: Equity among member states
hierarchical_section_title: Common Agricultural Policy / Criticism / Equity among member states
context_page_description: The Common Agricultural Policy is the agricultural policy of the European Union. It implements a system of agricultural subsidies and other programmes. It was introduced in 1962 and has undergone several changes since then to reduce the cost and to also consider rural development in its aims. It has been criticised on the grounds of its cost, and its environmental and humanitarian impacts.
context_section_description: Some countries in the EU have larger agricultural sectors than others, notably France and Spain, and consequently receive more money under the CAP. Countries such as the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have particularly urbanised populations and rely very little on agriculture as part of their economy (in the United Kingdom agriculture employs 1.6% of the total workforce and in the Netherlands 2.0%).  The UK therefore receives less than half what France gets, despite a similar sized economy and population. Other countries receive more benefit from different areas of the EU budget. Overall, certain countries make net contributions, notably Germany (the largest contribution overall) and the Netherlands (the biggest contribution per person), but also the UK and France. The largest per capita beneficiaries are Greece and Ireland.
  Another aspect is difference between older Western European and newer Central and Eastern member states, due to transitional arrangements the latter received smaller payments. In 2013 payments per hectare were 527 euros in Greece and only 89 euros in Latvia. In compensation the newer members were allowed to provide national farm aid. In March 2018 EU agriculture ministers failed to achieve consensus on a declaration about future of CAP, with ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia demanding fully equal subsidies across the union.
caption: CAP 2004 beneficiaries
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