The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a system of European Union agricultural subsidies which represents about 50%-70% of the EU's spending.
In recent years, the biggest beneficary of these subsidies has been France, and hence that country is its strongest supporter in the face of calls for liberalisation of agricultural markets.
Critics -- among them, both free market advocates and some members of the anti-globalisation movement -- say that the subsidies, like those of other Western states, add to the problem of what is sometimes called Fortress Europe.