by stating that any of the aims GmbH v Hauptzollamt Berlin-Packhof can get temporary priority, if it is needed to secure the long-term harmonization of the goals. Since these rulings, however, the Court has often given preference to the interests of the producers over consumer protection. This is significant since it gives an indication of what values generally are considered important by the Union. Agriculture and fisheries are regulated together in Articles 38 to 44 TFEU. Apart from Article 39, the article with the most relevance for this topic is Article 40. It lays down that in order for the goals in Article 39 to be met, a common organization of agricultural matters will be set up. This is the basis for all of the actual agricultural policies that have been implemented, starting with the ones crafted at the Stresa conference. Other important factors to consider are that agricultural products are part of the common market and that they are included in EU competition law. Article 43 also details the process through which the European Union can legislate on agricultural matters. According to Article 4(2)(d) TFEU, the competence of the agricultural sector is shared between the member states and the European Union. Shared competence means that both individual member states and the EU are allowed to legislate in the field, but the member states are only allowed to use their competence to the extent that the EU has not done so. It is also important to note that according to the principle of subsidiarity, the EU may legislate only if that would be more effective than for the individual member states to do so. For the agricultural sector, this means that the EU legislation is to be given preference. Current secondary legislation Pillar I The current secondary EU legislation on agricultural matters is divided into two Pillar I focuses on the common organization of the markets “pillars”. (CMOs) in agricultural products and direct payments to farmers, while pillar II focuses on rural development policy. Two important features of pillar I need to be mentioned in order to get a solid overview of how CAP works in this regard. The first is the regulation of CMO, and the second is direct payments. The direct payments are divided into two components: the target objectives based on which farmers can get aid, and a cross-compliance requirement that farmers must fulfill in order to qualify for the payments. There used to be 21 CMOs within the European Union. They all regulated the market for different agricultural products. Each CMO had three main objectives:
GmbH v Hauptzollamt Berlin-Packhof by stating that any of the aims can get temporary priority, if it is needed to secure the long-term harmonization of the goals. Since these rulings, however, the Court has often given preference to the interests of the producers over consumer protection. This is significant since it gives an indication of what values generally are considered important by the Union. Agriculture and fisheries are regulated together in Articles 38 to 44 TFEU. Apart from Article 39, the article with the most relevance for this topic is Article 40. It lays down that in order for the goals in Article 39 to be met, a common organization of agricultural matters will be set up. This is the basis for all of the actual agricultural policies that have been implemented, starting with the ones crafted at the Stresa conference. Other important factors to consider are that agricultural products are part of the common market and that they are included in EU competition law. Article 43 also details the process through which the European Union can legislate on agricultural matters. According to Article 4(2)(d) TFEU, the competence of the agricultural sector is shared between the member states and the European Union. Shared competence means that both individual member states and the EU are allowed to legislate in the field, but the member states are only allowed to use their competence to the extent that the EU has not done so. It is also important to note that according to the principle of subsidiarity, the EU may legislate only if that would be more effective than for the individual member states to do so. For the agricultural sector, this means that the EU legislation is to be given preference. Current secondary legislation Pillar I The current secondary EU legislation on agricultural matters is divided into two “pillars”. Pillar I focuses on the common organization of the markets (CMOs) in agricultural products and direct payments to farmers, while pillar II focuses on rural development policy. Two important features of pillar I need to be mentioned in order to get a solid overview of how CAP works in this regard. The first is the regulation of CMO, and the second is direct payments. The direct payments are divided into two components: the target objectives based on which farmers can get aid, and a cross-compliance requirement that farmers must fulfill in order to qualify for the payments. There used to be 21 CMOs within the European Union. They all regulated the market for different agricultural products. Each CMO had three main objectives:
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