Issues why the European agricultural subsidies were voidable in terms of decouplement

Abstract

The finance of the Agribusiness Industry is a highly criticised issue both on national and on international levels. Moreover, this will be one of the most questioned and negotiated key issues of the forthcoming WTO negotiations in Hong Kong. The developing countries continue to argue that the EU‘s agriculture subsidy system is not decoupled enough. This paper discusses the major origins of these arguments and seeks an answer to whether these arguments are correct. Also, it discusses the box system of the EU agricultural subsidies. Moreover, it tries to exceed the decouplement issue to the new agricultural point of view of the EU, namely the multifunctionality, and to show why this question can raise more arguments from the developing world against the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).