The trajectory of the common agricultural policy and its impact on portuguese agriculture following accession to the European Union

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has featured as a priority on the European Economic Community (EEC), now the European Union (EU), agenda ever since its founding by the Treaty of Rome in 1957. At that time, the CAP, in addition to fulfilling an economic function, also took on a significant social role: guaranteeing social and territorial cohesion and a decent standard of living to farmers alongside the supply of foodstuffs at generally accessible prices. This current article not only describes the CAP trajectory within the scope of building the EU but also seeks to analyse its impacts particularly on the rural sector of Portugal across the socioeconomic and social cohesion dimensions. The methodological procedures adopted involve analysis of primary and secondary sources of information. The research techniques applied above all incorporate documental analysis and undertaking semi-structured interviews with privileged actors and through means of contacts with key actors. The general results point to the CAP, over the course of its trajectory, having undergone a series of transformation that, in summary form, divide up into two phases: one focused on the productive side and on productivity through to the 1980s; the other, subsequent to this period, prioritising rural development with commitments targeting the challenges stemming from climate change, population ageing and the abandoning of disadvantaged rural regions, among others. As regards the impacts of CAP on the Portuguese rural sector, while unable to reverse the trend towards abandoning the countryside and the ageing of the rural population (49% of farmers are aged 65 or over, the eldest in the EU with its overall average of 29.5%), the policy has rendered the modernisation of agriculture viable through investments in frameworks, agricultural training and education, among other aspects. In general terms, the adhesion of Portugal to the EU was positive for the sector that would have suffered far deeper without the support received in the meanwhile.