Les règlements agricoles de la CEE et leur impact sur les régions méditerranéennes

The writer first analyses the characteristics of Mediterranean farm products and their markets. They are often perennial crops (vines, fruit-trees) that can only slowly be adapted to the market. Most of these products are perishable and their production is irregular. Their consumption is confined to the South and they are in competition with produce coming from countries with a lower standard of living. The markets for these products, that were largely unorganized before the advent of the Common Market, have not been much better protected by the EEC regulations. The fact that the regulations are not adapted and the way they are applied do not enable these types of produce to overcome the natural difficulties nor the competition they meet. Moreover, short term correctives for temporary situations have been sought rather than a complete rethinking of those regulations that have proved unsuitable. Finally these deficiencies have been made even worse by circumstances unconnected with these regulations. Nevertheless all the evils besetting Mediterranean products cannot be attributed to the EEC regulations and their application. Chance circumstances and national intervention have also played a part. But should regulations made for Northern climates have been applied to Southern producers ? It seems that those in charge In the EEC are still — as the commission's recent communication proves — not able to understand Southern farms and farming. The result is an increasing marked gap between the « North » that believes in Europe and the « South » that does not. It is surely disquieting to see that a Community that intends to « reduce the gap between the different regions and the backwardness of the least privileged » is not more concerned about its Mediterranean fringe.