In January 2003, the EU Commission published details of the proposed reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. Core elements of this reform are the reduction of intervention prices (for grain and milk) and the decoupling of direct payments from production. Several countries (including Austria)...

Consistent with proposals provided by the OECD, the practice of linking the Common Agricultural Policy with agricultural production was abandoned after the 2003 reform. Another substantial change was expected from the 2013 reform. In line with the OECD principle, the provision of public goods...