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Article: Milking the sacred cow. (Europe's farm subsidies)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- December 2, 1989
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1989 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Milking the sacred cow
SO ARCANE is the European Community's method of shielding its farmers against the effects of currency swings, goes an old joke, that only two Brussels officials understand fully how the system works--and they are not allowed to travel together on the same aircraft. If Mr Ray MacSharry, the EC's agricultural commissioner, has his way, the Community's single-market programme will make them both redundant after 1992. He wants his colleagues on the Commission to agree by the end of the year a plan for scrapping the system of monetary compensatory amounts (MCAs).
Mr MacSharry's goal looks wildly optimistic. Like the Common ...