The targeted increase of renewable energy sources in the European energy mix to 20% by 2020, and the goal of an 80-95% CO2 emissions reduction by 2050, will require changes to and extensions of the electricity grid. The integration of increasing shares of fluctuating renewable electricity,...

The background to this study is the establishment of the Single Payment Scheme (SPS), providing decoupled support to farmers, which was the central element of the 2003 CAP reform. The Member States of the EU-15 had to implement the SPS at the latest by 2007. The Member States had some...

‘Modulation’ is a policy mechanism for shifting funding from the part of the CAP budget dedicated to providing direct payments to farmers (Pillar 1) to the European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development (Pillar 2), which aims to provide targeted support to rural areas, to improve the...