Airy promises: the Senegal and the EEC’s Common Agricultural Policy in the 1960s

Abstract

What was the difference between the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Economic Community (EEC) and its deve10pment policy as regards the associated African countries' agriculture in the sixties? On the one hand, the CAP was based on a protectionist, income-centered approach focusing on high prices and marketing guarantees, which came along with a modernization process and an immense increase in production. On the other hand, the EEC's development policy aimed at Iiberalization of the economies of the African countries and their integration into the world market, which was to be achieved by modernizing their condi. tions of agricultural production. In ather wards, low warld market prkes and income losses caused by the abolition of French subsidies were supposed to be compensated by a vast extension of production. But this modernization failed due to internal as weH as external reasans; on the contrary, production dropped, at least as regards the Senegalese groundnut economy. How and why did these different political strategies for relatively similar problems emerge from one and the same institution? Answering this question will reveal the CAP's effects on third states on the one hand and should lead to a better understanding of what development policy actually was about. Following a multifaceted perspective, this chapter will focus firstly on the expectations and conditions in Senegal and in Europe in the early sixties. The second part will deal with the question of why and how the Common Agricultural Policy became a central issue for Senegal after the conclusion of the first Yaounde Convention in 1963. Finally, it will be explained why, in contrast to the Council's promises, Senegal's interests were practically ignored within the CAP framework. To begin with, Senegal's economic situation and its relations to the EEC will be sketched. When the European Economic Community was founded in March 1957, the colonial era had not ended yet. France still possessed a vast colonial Empire, mainly located south of the Sahara in Africa. Economically the metropole and its territories formed a great preferential trade area. This caused major problems for the French government in relation to future European common market integration and led to tenacious negotiations. In particular, the German delegation was reluctant to subsidize France's colonies without gaining some return services. However in the end, the overseas possessions of a11 prospective member states were associated with the EEC. These territories gained preferential access to the European markets and bene-