The legend of the excessive costs. The detractors of the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy of the EU) criticise it essentially for its cost and protectionist nature. It is true that to start with, the proportion of the CAP as a whole of the Community budget was excessive: it exceeded 60% of the total. The reason for this was simple: it was the first jointly-financed European policy, and it remained the only one for a long time. Today, the cost of the CAP is less than 40% of the budget, and...