A very thoughtful analysis by Vicomte13. I myself had wondered why Chirac (and to a lesser extent Schroeder) attacked the British rebate, because it was logical that the British would retaliate by attacking the Common Agricultural Policy. There will probably have to be a major crisis, as Vicomte suggests, for a viable solution to emerge. However, I would hate to see France's family farms disappear, even in the interest of economic efficiency - just as I believe the absorption of American family farms into agricultural conglomerates, while economically efficient, is a social loss.
Ah, but here is where there are blinder on.
Efficiency in agriculture does not perforce mean gross conglomerates. That merely produces superabundance.
Consider what France does exceptionally well: quality niche marketing. France does not produce the most wine in the world, but at the top end, French wine is the majority.
France does not produce the most perfume, but the high end is the French niche.
Certainly tissue makers in bulk cannot compete with China, and yet the Chinese do not remove the market for the finest silks and designer clothes and leathers from the French.
Agglomerated farms, like the mass wine communes, produce Frankenstein food. But Europeans, in particular, prefer very high quality organic foodstuffs. They will pay a small premium for them. Certainly there needs to be a common agricultural policy, but that policy can be rather simple: foods are not to be imported that are filled with chemicals and genetic modifications, foods are not to be imported from lands with very low hygeine standards, foods are not to be imported from lands where agricultural workers are not paid a living wage. This is the appropriate barrier.
Remove the CAP, and some farms will fail. But others will not. They will produce in their niche, and being smaller operations, they will not strive for bulk but for the cachet of organic quality, for which people consistently pay a premium. The market does need to be protected from the dumping of foods grown by slaves and mulched with human feces, yes, but the still-rigid nature of French worker law, and the relatively low margins, will not result in a sudden rise of massive farms in France.
There is no reason to believe that M. Durand who now grows mustard and endives cannot continue to do so. Some will get out of the business, but others will not. There is a grand market for high quality food products that are grown organically, and the smaller farms characteristic of France are ideal for such operations. The premium on organic food is about 300% of the commoditized industrial product, and it tastes better too.
Cooperative equipment sharing operations will continue to be required, but there will be no longer any reason to grow things to a quota.
There will be a shakeout, but it will not be the end of the family farm, if the family has the sagacity to enter organic farming and focus on quality. One hectare of organic produce produces the same profit as three hectares of industrial.