Abstract
The Common Agricultural Policy was, together with competition policy, the great early success story of the EU. It is perhaps the aspect of European integration which has most impressed itself on public consciousness. Indeed, the "CAP is one of the most pervasive of all EU policies, one of the most infamous and perhaps one of the most misunderstood" (Robert Ackrill, The Common Agricultural Policy). Established to ensure an adequate food supply for the member states and to protect EU farmers from overseas competition, it is based on the idea of market intervention, a fact which also denotes its role as an exception to the usual market logic of the EU. However, the CAP has become increasingly controversial for a number of reasons.
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