THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION IN THE CAP DECISION MAKING: A CASE STUDY ON THE SUGAR REFORM

This paper represents the first step of a wider research project on the relation between the EU institutional settings and the policy outcome. We specifically tackle the CAP definition process and the role of the Commission inside consultation procedure, proposing a case study on the sugar CMO reform of 2006. Using and adapting the theoretical framework proposed by Putnam (1988) we first check the suitability of sugar for such analysis than we reconstruct the various phases of the sugar CMO definition process evaluating qualitatively, the main issue in discussion, MSs position in relation also to the final outcome and the role played by the Commission in this context. The analysis is carried out as a documental study in which we collected and evaluate the documents produced by different bodies during the reform process together with interviews with commission internals in order to validate our hypothesis. The objective is to point out winners and losers of the reform process, highlighting the circumstances in which the Commission could have acted in order to compensate losers. Moreover, understand how such compensations could have helped the Commission in safeguarding the guidelines for the reform it supports.