Basic HTML Version
PAGE 16
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MARCH 30, 1984
The trucks were transporting lamb and pork from Britain to
France. The Community has a common agricultural policy that sets
prices, but French farmers consider imports of food to be a
threat to their livelihood. So, despite the protection they get
under the policy, they hijacked the British vehicles and donated
the meat, worth about $28,000, to charity.
They bought drinks
for the drivers, just to show there was nothing personal in their
action.
Such incidents, which occur periodically, not onl ¥ underline the
fragility of� Community. The agricultural policy . itself is�
source of tension between Western Europe and the United States,
which feels that its predominance in the international food trade
is being jeopardized. In simple terms, the Community guarantees
a fixed price for all crops grown by farmers in its member
countries, no matter how much they produce. The prices are high
enough to assure a decent living for the most inefficient
farmers, who are French.
Successful farmers find it hugely profitable to grow more than
they can ever sell, since the Community is committed to buying
the:r surplus. Thus Western Europe is glutted by mountains of
butter, lakes of wine and piles of other commodities. Occasional
attempts are made to cut prices to enable the law of supply and
demand to function. French farmers then objectr they have even
driven flocks of sheep into the center of Paris to protest. So
the surpluses mount, leaving the Community no choice but to
export them. This brings the Europeans into competition with the
United States, the world's largest agricultural exporter.
The Americans are not opposed to free trade, but they complain
quite justifiably that the Community sells food abroad at prices
far below production costs, with the difference covered by
European taxpayers. The subsidies to farmers have made Europe a
big food exporter.
Its share of world food sales, mostly to
developing countries, has risen from 8 percent in 1976 to 18
percent last year.
The Reagan administration, by way of
reprisal, has also taken to subsidizing agricultural exports.
Last year it underwrote the sale of a million tons of flour to
Egypt. The Europeans retaliated by offering subsidized wheat to
China, thus escalating the trade war.
Unless Europe's policy is reformed the friction will increase.
The European dairy surplus is expected to double in the next five
n ears, . and the� lake � expand to the � of � �-
[The
.S. is now trying to limit French and Italian wine imports.]
Intense rivalry with the United States for markets is inevitable.
The prospect is;---t'oo:---fhat French farmers will continue to vent
their anger on British truck drivers and other European rivals,
demonstratin � in the process that Western Europe has yet .to
attain cohesion.
THE ECONOMIST of Britain summarized the summit's failure, and the nearly
obsessive amount of time spent on agricultural issues, in its March 24
issue. It contains some very interesting observations about the future of
Europe: