The initial European Economic Community was largely about the creation of a Common Market, comprising a customs union and providing for the unhampered free movement of goods, persons, services and capital. Over the years, Community competences have been considerably extended into other fields, called policies in EC jargon. This chapter will briefly address those Community policies which have gained significantly in importance, such as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), environmental and social policy, with particular regard to non-discrimination issues. All were hardly visible in the original TEC and grew only as a consequence of judge-made law, Community legislation and Treaty amendments.

What are the objectives of the CAP?

According to Article 33(1) TEC the aims of CAP are:

1. (a) to increase productivity;

2. (b) to ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural community;

3. (c) to stabilise markets;

4. (d) to ensure the availability of supplies; and

5. (e) to ensure reasonable prices for consumers.

Under the so-called lex specialis principle, which provides that specialised rules prevail over more general ones, CAP rules take precedence over other Treaty rules, such as those on the free movement of goods. According to Article 32(1) TEC, the CAP applies to agricultural products defined as ‘products of the soil, of stock farming and of fisheries and products of first-stage processing directly related to these products’.