I. Background The European Union and their 28 member states produce 130 billion euros per year in agricultural exports, making the EU the leading

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1 Improving Agriculture Markets European Union I. Background The European Union and their 28 member states produce 130 billion euros per year in agricultural exports, making the EU the leading exporter and importer of agricultural goods in the world. Due to the fluctuating prices of commodity goods and increasing prices of food of up to 7%, the European Agricultural Market has become topic of improvement over the last 10 years. France is the leading producer of agricultural exports in the European Union but between 2015 and 2016, their agricultural production declined 6%. On average in the EU, agricultural production declined 4.4% between 2015 and 2016 and income from agricultural exports has declined 3% since The agricultural income of the EU hit its peak in 2013 and has declined almost 1.4 billion dollars per year since then then. Between , the prices of agricultural goods increased by 50% while the price for energy jumped 220% and the price of fertilizer jumped 150%. In a world that is predicted to increase 83 billion people per year, the need for agricultural food production is increasing, but the cost to produce such commodities has steadily increased over the last decade by nearly 18%. The agri-food sector of the economy accounts for nearly 6.5% of the European workforce and due to the decline in agricultural income, the agricultural industry now pays 5.4% below the national salary average of 72 thousand dollars a year in the EU. This has a direct effect on the European economy and the economy of each member state. The decline in production and income of agricultural goods has been attributed to the increased volatility in the markets which directly impacts stakeholders of the food-chain, (European Commission). The European agricultural income is based on a baseline of assumptions regarding the future economic and market environment of the EU and the global markets. These assumptions include predicted steady yields and absence of animal disease and food safety issues. When these market assumptions are disrupted it can cause a decline in agricultural production and since the reliability of global markets have increasingly fluctuated over the last decade, the European Markets and the reliability of these assumptions also fluctuate.

2 The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is an EU policy adopted in 1962 that ensures rural sustainable development according to each independent member country and their needs. CAP is used to provide income support to farmers by using market orientation and food safety. The main objective of CAP is to create a reliable agricultural market so the food production and consumption in the EU can stay self sustainable. Today, CAP has three main objectives: food production, management of natural resources, and territorial development. CAP has an annual budget of 59 million euros funded by the European Agriculture Guarantee Fund (EAGF). CAP is reevaluated every 10 years in order to ensure it s programs stay relevant to the changing economic parameters. CAP has undergone major change over the last twenty years regarding changing environmental opinions and changes in the EU economy. CAP has now been divided into two pillars of focus. Pillar I includes instruments relating to the functioning of agriculture markets and the food supply chain, (European Commision). In simple terms, this pillar of CAP provides sustainability for EU farmers. Pillar II includes measures that aim at providing competitiveness of the agricultural sector, (European Commission). Pillar II provides security in agricultural markets by developing diversity in economic activity in the agricultural sector. While CAP has evolved in the last twenty years to accommodate issues that the European agricultural sector has faced, the issue surrounding the program is that it s changes are made after the issues arise. One of the main goals of policy makers in the EU is to create a program that will work to anticipate issues that are to arise in the agricultural economy and work to prevent them from occurring. As the EU relies on CAP and their large subsidy program, CAP does little to actually protect rural farmers and farmers in developing nations. CAP, while decreasing the amount of money the EU spends on agriculture, still makes up 45% percent of the EU budget while agriculture only makes up 1.6% of the EU s GDP. Subsidies imposed by CAP drives their market prices for goods, such as grain, down, which makes competition from developing nations impossible and in turn, devastating their economy. In 2011, a study conducted by the University of Lausanne concluded that the world as a whole would gain from the removal of the most distortive CAP instruments, with Europe being the main beneficiary, (Mark Tran). If the EU

3 were to continue to impose the CAP subsidy program, the USA and the EU would hold a monopoly on the global agriculture market. While this would increase agricultural revenue for the European Union, it would put strain on their small rural farmers and devastate the economies of developing nations such as the ones in Sub-Saharan Africa, Pacific Islands, and the Caribbean. On top of devastating international economies, The EU CAP program can cause global malnutrition if it fails. The EU agriculture market is the largest in the world and nearly 63% of countries receive agricultural imports from the EU. If the EU Agriculture Market fails, an estimated 54% of the global population would be affected. Of that 54%, nearly 22% may face malnutrition in the next two years. As well as facing malnutrition, nearly 83% of European farmers would fall below the poverty line and an estimated 46% of global agricultural workers would fall below the poverty line. European agricultural production is interrelated to international trade. When European trade policies change, it has a direct effect on european agriculture production. For example, when European trade policies shift or change, the agricultural sectors need to produce different exports in different quantities. When these changes occur, small farmers (that account for almost 22% of EU agricultural production) suffer. For example, when Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, EU agricultural trade policies fluctuated and 34 small dairy farmers in the Luxembourg area went bankrupt. These discrepancies in policy and agriculture, needs to be addressed in order to create a sustainable market for international trade. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an global organization that deals with rules of international trade between sovereign nations. The European Union has been a member of the WTO since January of The WTO has promoted the Agricultural Agreement between nations that is aimed to reform agricultural trade. This agreement highlights commitments to market access, domestic support (subsidies to increase income for farmers), and export subsidies (to increase competition in the global agricultural market). The goal of this Agricultural Agreement is to support rural farmers without causing damage to international trade markets. Issues that arise with this agreement and the intended purpose of the WTO is that the organization is focused on benefitting large economies such as the USA, Japan, and the EU. Little decision making power is placed in the hands of small economies in Latin American and

4 Western Africa which are key players in the development of the global agricultural economy. The WTO also is profit oriented and it is strongly influenced by narrow corporate interests, (Greenpeace). The EU is directly being encouraged by the WTO and other members of the agricultural industry to keep the large subsidy program (CAP) in tact. The WTO has also pushed for the EU to develop its markets on corporate owned drinking water, despite the environmental impacts of the program. II. UN Involvement The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was founded on October 16th 1945 as a branch of the United Nations. The European Union became a member of the FAO in The FAO has worked to ensure global food security through many innovative programs and subcommittees. One of these subcommittees is the European Commission on Agriculture. The ECA meets every two years in order to discuss issues regarding food safety and the agricultural economy that are not under review of the Committee on Commodity Problems. The ECA has open membership to any country in FAO Europe and Central Asia. In May of 2016, the FAO held the 30th session of the Regional Conference for Europe where the FAO and members from Europe and Central Asia worked to fix food security issues in the region. The main goals on the conference were to increase agricultural development in the region, especially in rural areas. By the conclusion of the conference, the region had adopted policies that adapted rural agricultural development in order to ensure integration of the Sustainable Development Goals, (FAO). Although progressive action was discussed, this regional conference did not meet the intended goals of starting to take progressive action towards creating food security in agriculture markets. The United Nations has passed a multitude of resolutions to ensure food security and agricultural development in the EU and in the global markets. A/RES/51/603 is a resolution that was passed by the General Assembly in February of The resolution called for food sustainability and agricultural development. To accomplish these goals, the resolution calls for revelavent bodies in the United Nations system to implement the World Food Summit Plan.

5 The World Food Summit Plan is still in use today and has successfully attributed to increases in food security and sustainable. The World Food Summit Plan was launched in 1996 by the FAO. The World Food Summit had the intended purpose of ending global hunger and malnutrition through the cooperation between leading nations in agriculture. The World Food Summit proposed doing this by increasing agricultural production in developed nations and developing agricultural markets in underdeveloped nations. These solutions were outlined in General Assembly resolution A/RES/50/109 which was passed in December of Over 100 countries signed this treaty and committed to the 7 commitments of the treaty in order to ensure global food security. Of the 100 that signed the treaty, only 62 were able to successfully follow through on the 7 commitments outlines in the plan. The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations in one of the 6 main organs of the UN structure. ECOSOC is dedicated to creating sustainable development in environmental and social issues as well as in economics. In 2008, ECOSOC convened a special convention on the topic of the global food crisis. At this summit, ECOSOC and its member states focused on 3 main topics of interest. The first topic was ending global hunger, the second topic was increasing cooperation between member states, and the last topic was to increase sustainability in global and regional agricultural markets in order to stabilize the increasing prices of food. This summit called for ending gaps between agricultural prices increasing price sustainability in global and regional agriculture markets. Document E/2008/66 was issued at the end of the meeting in order to summarize the events and topic discussions of the summit. In September of 2015, the UN adopted in 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This agenda promotes food sustainability, ending malnutrition, and creating cooperative global agriculture markets. The agenda creates inclusive, resilient and sustainable agriculture and food systems that deliver for people, planet and prosperity. (UN Global Compact). The 2030 Agenda plans to follow through on the unfinished business of the MDGs and meet the growing challenges in the interlinked economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. (OSSA).

6 The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for global and regional agricultural markets to become cooperative. It also calls for the development of agricultural economic growth in developing nations in order to increase their agricultural production and their GDP. In order to accomplish this, the 2030 Agenda calls for large agriculture producers to aid in the development of these underdeveloped nations. The European Union, being a council of the United Nations has the ability to pass its own resolutions pertaining to the topic of improving it s agricultural markets. The EU has currently put in place many programs in order to benefit it s agricultural production. Some of these programs include CAP and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. III. Questions to Consider 1. How do you ensure the development of the EU agri-food sector without devastating the economies of underdeveloped nations? 2. How do you protect rural farmers during the process of agricultural development? 3. How do you increase agricultural income without raising the price of exports? 4. Is CAP affective? If not, how would you modify EU policies? 5. What is the role of agriculture in your nation s economy and what changes need to be made to benefit you? 6. What successful actions have been taken in the past in order to ensure food security, and why were they successful? 7. What actions have been unsuccessful and how can you improve them?

7 Works Cited 1. "Agricultural Markets - Agriculture and Rural Development - European Commission." Social Protection Statistics - Unemployment Benefits - Statistics Explained. N.p., 22 Feb Web. 14 May "Agricultural Markets - Agriculture and Rural Development - European Commission." Social Protection Statistics - Unemployment Benefits - Statistics Explained. N.p., 22 Feb Web. 14 May "Agricultural Markets and International Trade - EU Science Hub - European Commission." Social Protection Statistics - Unemployment Benefits - Statistics Explained. N.p., 20 Apr Web. 14 May "Agricultural Statistics and Indicators - Agriculture and Rural Development - European Commission." Social Protection Statistics - Unemployment Benefits - Statistics Explained. N.p., 22 Feb Web. 14 May "CAP at a Glance - Agriculture and Rural Development - European Commission." Social Protection Statistics - Unemployment Benefits - Statistics Explained. N.p., 30 Mar Web. 14 May "FAO.org." Fao.org. FAO of the UN, n.d. Web. 14 May Tran, Mark. "EU Agriculture Policy 'still Hurting Farmers in Developing Countries' Mark Tran." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 11 Oct Web. 14 May 2018.

8 8. "Why Is the WTO a Problem?" GREENPEACE New Zealand. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May "WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION." WTO What Is the WTO? - Who We Are. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2018

9 Russian Threat to the EU European Union I. Background In March of 2014, Russia illegally occupied Crimea, Ukraine. Russia challenged the integrity of Europe s territorial borders and proved that they could successfully react to challenges they perceive to be under their influence. This establishment of dominant, aggressive behavior has caused strife between Western Nations and Russia. This comes less than 6 years after Russia invaded the country of Georgia. In order to gain access to natural resources and oil, Russia launched a full scale ground invasion of Georgia in ,000 troops and 350 Russian tanks invaded the small nation, causing nearly 6,500 Georgian citizens to be misplaced. Russia launched a dozen air raids and air strikes that were not intended to harm civilian life, ( Gen. Sergei Chaban), but consequently these air raids killed over 106 Georgian civilians and in total 2078 Georgian civilians were killed in the duration of the conflict. The conflict ended in August of 2008 when EU and NATO diplomats were sent to Georgia to discuss peace and compromise. Russia withdrew its troops and agreed to a 6 point peace plan which was then signed by Georgia. NATO members geographically closer to Russia perceive the Russian threat to be much more dire than other members. Finland, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan have openly questioned whether or not NATO is equipped to handle a serious international conflict with Russia. Tensions between Russia and the European Union have strengthened over the last year. In March of 2018, 28 Russian diplomats were expelled from 13 EU member states on account of multiple attempted acts of government interference from Russia and Vladimir Putin. Russia has been accused by Britain, France, Norway, Germany and Latvia of meddling in elections and national politics.

10 Russia funds and politically supports over 6 political parties in Europe. The most influential parties are the Alternative for Germany, the UK Independence Party, and the National Front Party in France. Le Pen, the politician backed by the National Front, took loans out for her campaign from Russian owned banks and the Russian state media openly supported her in the last election. It has been speculated that Russia holds a 3.3 billion dollar fund that has the sole purpose of funding European political parties. Responses about Russian interference has varied across the EU. According the AP, Estonia and Finland have increased their cyber security protocols in lieu of upcoming elections. All members of the European Union are increasing their vigilance to the Russian threat by increasing cyber security, nuclear production, and military spending. In the United Kingdom, an assassination attempt was made on a former Russian double agent with a nerve agent poison. The case has remained open since the attack in April of this year, although it has been reported by the Head of the House of Commons, Theresa May, that the Russian government played a crucial role in the attack. The daughter of the former double agent, Yulia Skriple stated in an interview on May 14th that she was shocked nerve agent was used. The attack left Yulia Skriple in a coma for 20 days and still she stated that she would return to Russia despite the attack. Russia has also been accused in funding a coup in Montenegro. The Baltic country of Montenegro tried to join NATO and the EU in Allegedly, Russia funded an attempted coup that would keep Montenegro out of the NATO alliance. The coup planned to overthrow the democratic government and assassinate the elected prime minister in October of Not only was Montenegro planning on joining NATO, it is also strategically located on the Adriatic Sea. Two years prior, Russia unsuccessfully sought to build a naval base in Montenegro. The coup was unsuccessful and there were no repercussions taken against Russia for its involvement, although 17 people were prosecuted in Montenegro for their involvement and of those 17, 2 were Russian citizens. In April of 2018, Russia conducted live missile test over the Baltic Sea causing Latvia (a member of NATO) to close its airspace. The missiles were fired in a specific region of the sea where Latvia holds special economic rights. The missiles were fired between Sweden, Poland,

11 and Latvia and were fired 200 miles off the coast of the Swedish city of Karlskrona, where an important NATO naval base is located. Latvia s Prime Minister, Maris Kucinskis, called this action a demonstration of force. The Russian ballistic tests began a day after President Donald Trump met with Prime Minister Kucinskis at the White House in Washington D.C. Although the ballistic missile tests are concerning for surrounding nations, Russia has not broken any international laws and no actions have been taken to reprimand Russia. Over the last 6 months, Vladimir Putin has revealed that Russia has developed new nuclear and ballistic weapons far beyond the technology of western nations and NATO. Russia began rebuilding nuclear weapons after the US withdrew from the Nuclear Arms Treaty in Russia claims to have created four new types of ballistic missiles that are undetectable and invisible. The validity of these claims has not been proven by any international organ or nation. One of the missiles discussed by Putin is the RS-28 Sarmat ICBM. This missile has the theoretical capability to arc over the North Pole or the South Pole to hit the intended target of the United States without detection. This technology is possible and would be effective at eluding the United States defence systems although the production of these missiles will not begin until 2020 and will not be ready for operation until The missile has satellite interference technology and has Fractional Orbital Bombardment capability. This means that the missile has the capability to go into Earth s low orbit and then deorbit to attack. Over the last 5 years, increasing tensions with the West has caused Russia to increase their military funding. Russia has an annual military budget of 62 billion dollars, making in the fourth largest in the world. Russia currently has the third largest standing army in the world with 798,527 active personnel and 2,572,500 personnel in reserve. Russia has the largest known arsenal of warheads, totaling over Putin has access to 351 naval assets, including 63 submarines. Calculating the totals of active military personnel and assets in Europe is challenging because of the sheer volume of nations. Between France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Greece and Spain, the nations share over 969,000 full time military personnel and their combined defense

12 budget totals 135 billion dollars. The UK and France are the only nations that have nuclear weapons, sharing 515 between them. The Russian threat to the West exists on 2 main fronts. The first front is military action and conflict. In the event of a physical conflict between Russia and Europe, Russia has been sighted by other 7 sources as the intended victor. The second front of this war is in cyber warfare and politics. Russia is infamous for its ability to sway national and international politics through social media. Cyber warfare is the new age of war and Russia has adapted to this new playing field. II. UN Involvement The United Nations Security Council is one of the 6 structural councils of the United Nations that deals with issues of international security and conflict. Although the Security Council has the ability to reprimand Russia, Russia also has the power in the Security Council to veto such resolutions. This has lead to an inability to pass resolutions in the Security Council that would place restrictions on Russia. The United Nations General Assembly has passed resolutions to aid in the Russian threat. General Assembly resolution A/RES/62/282 was passed in May of 2014 in order to aid in the Russia/Crimea conflict. This resolution recognized the validity of Ukrainian territorial borders and condemned Russia for their actions of seizure. The Security Council convened 7 times on the issue of the Crimean conflict and multiple resolutions were voted upon including draft S/2014/189. Each resolution that was proposed faced a veto from Russia. During this conflict the UN, US, and EU imposed economic sanctions against Crimea, Ukraine and Russia which lead to the Russian Financial Crisis and an estimated loss of 105 billion dollars. In 2008, Russia called for a special emergency meeting of the Security Council of the United Nations to address the Russia/Georgia conflict. The purpose of this emergency meeting was to create open channels of communication for future negotiations and discuss the escalating crisis in terms of civilian casualties. Multiple council members including the United States and the UK condemned the violence and invasion of Georgia by Russia. No conclusion or agreement

13 was made this conference. No conclusion or resolution to the Georgia conflict was met in this meeting of the Security Council. In April of 2018, Russia called for another emergency session of the Security Council to discuss the Syrian conflict and the US/EU dual air strikes on Syria. Russian attempts for the council to condemn the United States and the United Kingdom were vetoed by both nations and instead Russian foreign policy was discussed during the committee session. Due to the results of this conference, Russia has begun discussion of arming Syria and other surrounding nations with missiles for use of defence. In May of 2018, Britain told the UN Human Rights Council that Russia s use of a nerve agent to attempt an assassination on a former spy was a violation of international law and should be met with reprimand. Russia denied all involvement in the attack and during this same conference, Russia did not mention the accusations against them but instead discussed afro-american rights in the United States. III. Questions to Consider 1. What threat does Russia pose to your nation? 2. Hows does the EU ensure cybersecurity? 3. What constitutes an act of war and at what point is action deemed necessary? 4. How would your nation handle a Russian threat to national security? 5. What successful actions have been taken in the past and why were they successful?

14 Works Cited Georgia Russia Conflict Fast Facts. CNN, Cable News Network, 3 Apr. 2018, 2. SECURITY COUNCIL HOLDS EMERGENCY MEETING IN RESPONSE TO RUSSIAN FEDERATION'S REQUEST AS CRISIS ESCALATES IN SOUTH OSSETIA, GEORGIA Meetings Coverage and Press Releases. United Nations, United Nations, 3. Falvey, Dan. World War 3: UK and EU v Russia - Who Has the Most Powerful Army If Conflict Breaks out? Express.co.uk, Express.co.uk, 14 Mar. 2018, ropean-union-military-army-uk-germany-spain-france. 4. Millar, Joey. Russia and Europe Moving Closer to WAR Warns Shock New Report. Express.co.uk, Express.co.uk, 7 Feb. 2018, n. 5. Norman, Laurence, and Julian E. Barnes. Europe Struggles to Respond to Covert Russian Threats. The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 27 Mar. 2018,

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