Agrarpolitische Interessen Frankreichs und Deutschlands – Gemeinsamkeiten und Divergenzen unter sich ändernden Rahmenbedingungen

The aim of this contribution is to examine how the French and theGerman positions on agricultural policy have developed since thefoundation of the EEC and what the driving forces were behind. The“general consensus” underlying the EEC treaty, and according towhich the common market would be “conquered” by France in thecase of the classical agricultural products, could not be translatedinto practice; for what emerged for these products was not a customsunion but a “price support union”. As a consequence Frenchintra-community agricultural exports had to be redirected to theworld market. Thus initial positive French income transfers via intracommunitytrade were transformed into transfers from the ECbudget, an evolution that can be interpreted as a “modification ofthe general consensus”. However, this was not to last long eithersince the policy of price support, plus the unlimited obligation forthe state to purchase any production surpluses, were bound tocause increasing budget costs and an aggravation of internationaltrade conflicts. The fact that in the ensuing discussions on the CAPFrance favored price cuts while the Federal Republic pleaded forquantitative restrictions, is explained with the help of a partialanalysis model. Moreover, the article also explains further divergencesbetween the French and the German agricultural policy positions.In so doing, account is also taken of (a) the modifications ofthe German positions after reunification and (b) the new accentsthat have appeared in French agricultural policy after the change ingovernment in 1997.