ABSTRACT
Though the EU levy system which operated until 1995 has been replaced by a variable tariff (as a result of the 1994 GATT agreement) which will gradually be reduced, it is likely to have broadly the same effect as the variable levy system of maintaining a substantial difference between EU internal prices and the world price of the major agricultural commodities well into the first decade of the next century. The GATT tariff and tariff reduction process agreed in 1993 is a compromise which effectively allows the EU to continue to discriminate against imports and maintain much higher prices for food within the Union than those generally paid outside.
