ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the events leading up to the May 1992 meeting of the Council of Agriculture Ministers at which, under the chairmanship of Arlindo Cunha, member states agreed to change the direction of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The reform of the CAP under the guidance of Ray MacSharry, the European Community Commissioner for Agriculture, is perhaps the most striking and significant change in the domestic agricultural policy of a major country or economic area in the post-war period. The Agriculture Council seeks consensus, reflecting the legacy of the Luxembourg Compromise, although the voting rule, and increasingly the practice, is decision by qualified majority. The MacSharry reforms were developed in an atmosphere of crisis. Commissioner MacSharry and Directorate-General for Agriculture staff feared that the CAP would collapse unless it underwent radical change. Synergistic linkage with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade game also contributed to the Agriculture Council's acceptance of the MacSharry reforms in the CAP game.
