The First Reform of the CAP

In the mid-1980s, under the Commission Presidency of Jacques Delors, a process of revitalizing European integration began, leading to the adoption of the Single European Act in 1986, multi-annual programming within the Multiannual Financial Framework in 1988, the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 and the founding of the European Union. An initial proposal to reform agricultural policy was triggered by the 1985 Green Paper and the 1988 report "The Future of Rural Areas". At the beginning of the Uruguay Round in 1986, agriculture was included for the first time in the GATT negotiations (the international trade agreement). In the name of global markets and the end of protectionist policies, a broad debate on agriculture was opened. In this context, the MacSharry reform of 1992 heralded a new season of the Common Agricultural Policy, which led to a significant reduction in guaranteed prices, offset by the introduction of compensatory payments. On this occasion, the so-called accompanying measures were also introduced which, although separate from the core of the reform and with limited resources, were for the first time focussed on tackling environmental problems