On 21 December 1968, the European Commission submits to the Council a memorandum on agricultural reform. This is the Agriculture 1980 plan, also known as the Mansholt Plan, named after the European Commissioner with special responsibility for agriculture.

In 1968, Sicco Mansholt, member of the European Commission with special responsibility for agriculture, holds a press conference in which he sets out the proposals put forward by the Commission regarding a reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP) and the fixing of agricultural prices.

In this interview, Hans-August Lücker, former general rapporteur on agricultural matters in the European Parliament, discusses the implications of the Plan for the Modernisation of European Agriculture and outlines the agricultural price-fixing mechanism in the European Economic Community (EEC).

On 20 February 1969, Sicco Mansholt, European Commissioner with special responsibility for agriculture, gives an interview to the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, on his plan to reform the common agricultural policy (CAP)

On 29 April 1970, Sicco Mansholt, European Commissioner with special responsibility for agriculture, publishes his plans for agricultural reform.

On 15 February 1971, Sicco Mansholt (left), Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Agriculture, Michel Cointat (centre), French Agriculture Minister, and Franco Maria Malfatti (right), President of the European Commission, talk in the margins of the Council of Agriculture Ministers of the Six in Brussels.

On 29 April 1971, Sicco Mansholt, European Agriculture Commissioner, denounces the attitude of the officers of the European Confederation of Agriculture (ECA) as the crisis involving European farmers unfolds.

On 31 March 1971, following the demonstrations by European farmers in Brussels, Sicco Mansholt, European Agriculture Commissioner, writes to the President of the Belgian Farmers’ Union and invites him to speak in a public debate about the implications of a reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP).

In February 1972, Sicco Mansholt, European Commissioner with special responsibility for agriculture, writes to Franco Maria Malfatti, President of the Commission, and to the other Members of the Commission encouraging them to address in a ‘testament' the most serious current problems.

On 6 March 1972, Alfredo Diana, President of the Italian General Confederation of Agriculture (Confagricoltura), answers questions posed by the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera on the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP).

Despite the unpopularity of some measures included in the Mansholt Plan, the Council of Ministers rally, and on 17 April 1972, adopt a directive on farm modernisation.

Despite the unpopularity of certain measures in the Mansholt Plan, the Council of Ministers actively supports and then adopts, on 17 April 1972, a directive concerning measures to encourage the cessation of farming and the re-allocation of agricultural land for structural improvement.

Despite the unpopularity of certain measures in the Mansholt Plan, the Council of Ministers actively supports and then adopts, on 17 April 1972, a directive concerning the acquisition of occupational skills by persons engaged in agriculture.

On 17 April 1972, Sicco Mansholt, appointed President of the European Commission one month earlier, defends, before the Council, three socio-structural Directives designed to achieve the modernisation of European farms.

In 1974, in a published collection of interviews, Sicco Mansholt, former European Commissioner with special responsibility for agriculture, describes the issues and the difficulties associated with his plan for a reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP).

On 25 September 1974, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung calls for a reform of the European agricultural market and for better political cooperation between the Nine.

‘Working at full stretch. And now, once again, it’s our French colleague’s turn to play us his record.’ On 4 October 1975, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung deplores the attitude of the European Agriculture Ministers, who, despite their declarations of intent, are dragging their feet when it comes to implementing a reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP).

On 8 April 1972, commenting on the French referendum on the ratification of the Treaty on the accession to the European Communities of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and Norway, to be held on 23 April, the RTL editorial team in Paris ponders on the implications of the proposals put forward by Sicco Mansholt, President of the European Commission, for a fundamental reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP).

In this interview, Hans-August Lücker, former general rapporteur on agricultural matters in the European Parliament, recalls the personality and working methods of Sicco Mansholt, European Commissioner for Agriculture and, in 1970, the author of an ambitious plan to reform the common agricultural policy (CAP).

In this interview, Paul Collowald, former Deputy Spokesman for the European Commission, describes the actions of Sicco Mansholt, former Vice-President of the European Commission with special responsibility for Agriculture and subsequently President of the European Commission.

In this interview, Georges Rencki, Head of Division responsible for the policy to modernise agricultural structures in the Directorate-General for Agriculture (1968–1977), outlines the measures proposed in the Mansholt Plan for the modernisation of agricultural holdings. He explains the consequences of the adoption of the Plan by the Council and emphasises Mansholt’s efforts to inform those working in the agricultural industry.

In this interview, Helmut von Verschuer, former member of the Private Office and close colleague of Sicco Mansholt, describes the latter’s personality and working methods.

In February 1969, the monthly publication Communauté européenne reviews criticism by the agricultural sector of the Mansholt Plan for reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP).

On 22 December 1969, during a meeting between the Foreign, Finance and Agriculture Ministers of the Six in Brussels, the French daily newspaper Le Monde leads with the difficult debates on the establishment of a financing system for the Community budget and calls for a system of own resources.

On 15 February 1971, discontented farmers burst into the conference room of the Council of Agriculture Ministers to show their opposition to planned reforms of the common agricultural policy (CAP).

On 15 February 1971, a number of European farmers opposed to the Mansholt Plan, accompanied by a few cows, interrupt a meeting of the 'Agricultural Affairs' Council being held in Brussels.

In February 1971, the monthly publication 30 jours d’Europe comments on a survey of French farmers’ opinions of the Mansholt Plan.

‘Dum, dum, dumped — No way through the garbage.’ In March 1971, the discontent in the European farming sector over plans to reform the common agricultural policy (CAP) proposed by Sicco Mansholt, European Commissioner with special responsibility for agriculture, comes to a head.

On 23 March 1971, a demonstration of European farmers against the agricultural reforms included in the Mansholt Plan leave one demonstrator dead and more than 100 injured.

On 29 March 1971, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung deplores the negative impact of the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP) on German rural areas.

In 1974, at a conference held in Austria on the economic and political situation in Europe, Otto von Habsburg, President of the International Paneuropean Union, strongly criticises the Mansholt Plan and its consequences, which he considers to be harmful for European agriculture.

On 13 December 1968, the French daily newspaper Le Monde describes the angry protests provoked by the Mansholt Plan which advocates a root-and-branch reform of agriculture within the European Economic Community (EEC).

On 26 November 1969, commenting on the demonstrations by angry French farmers, the British daily newspaper The Guardian outlines the problems facing the French agricultural industry and which explain the intransigence that the French President, Georges Pompidou, will have to show in connection with the financing of the common agricultural policy (CAP) during the Hague summit on 1 and 2 December.

Two days after the violent demonstration by European farmers on the streets of Brussels, the French daily newspaper Le Monde criticises the philosophy of the Mansholt Plan and considers the way in which the Six manage the agricultural question.

On 17 December 1968, the German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung analyses the issues at stake in the Mansholt Plan and highlights the importance of reforming the structures and farming methods used in the agricultural sector of Europe of the Six.

In February 1969, the German Farmers' Association (DBV) criticises the European Commission Memorandum on the Reform of Agriculture in the European Economic Community.

In March 1969, the Christian Social Union (CSU), the German conservative party, publishes a pamphlet criticising the Mansholt Plan on the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP).

On 6 June 1969, the German agricultural magazine Die Landtechnische Zeitschrift publishes an article analysing the impact of the Mansholt Plan on rural life.

In 1969, the German Ministry for Agriculture analyses the implications of the Mansholt Plan and sets out its ideas regarding the establishment of a future common agricultural policy.

On 12 June 1969, the German Federal Government analyses the provisions of the draft reform of the common agricultural policy and highlights its weaknesses.

On 20 June 1969, the Federation of German Rural Youth states its position on the draft reform of the common agricultural policy and highlights the weaknesses in the Mansholt Plan.

On 22 September 1969, at the opening of the Conference of German agricultural unions in Dortmund, Helmut Schmalz, Chairman of the free trade union of agricultural workers, comments on the provisions of the Mansholt Plan and emphasises the implications of the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP).

On 23 September 1969, during the Conference of German agricultural unions in Dortmund, the West German Minister for Agriculture, Hermann Höcherl, gives a speech on the reform of the common agricultural policy and outlines the changes occurring across rural Germany.

On 25 November 1969, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung criticises the way in which the common agricultural policy (CAP) is funded — which, in its opinion, leads to overproduction — and recommends decoupling subsidies from agricultural prices, as is the practice in the United Kingdom.

On 15 February 1969, the Italian daily newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore comments on the impact on agricultural prices of the proposed reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP).

In May 1969, the Italian Association for the Council of European Municipalities comments on the memorandum on the reform of the common agricultural policy submitted by the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Sicco Mansholt.

The day after the violent farmers' demonstration in Brussels, the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera describes the causes of the European rural sector's anger at the Mansholt Plan for Community agricultural reform.

In 1969, the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture drafts a note which analyses in detail all the provisions included in the Mansholt Plan for the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP).

In November 1969, the Dutch European Movement’s monthly publication Nieuw Europa comments on the position taken by the Netherlands Minister for Agriculture, Petrus Josephus Lardinois, on the subject of the Mansholt Plan.

On 27 November 1969, the Dutch daily newspaper Nieuwe Rotterdamse Courant analyses the differences between the 1970 plan for reforming the common agricultural policy (CAP) and the 1958 plan, both devised by Sicco Mansholt.

On 19 February 1971, De Lëtzeburger Bauer, a periodical published by the Centrale paysanne luxembourgeoise [Luxembourg farmers' association], is concerned about the deterioration in the European agricultural sector and echoes demands issued by farmers.

On 23 March 1971, RTL radio’s news bulletin reports on the violent demonstration by European farmers in the streets of Brussels against the Mansholt Plan for reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP).

On 23 March 1971, European farmers take to the streets in Brussels and demonstrate violently against the Mansholt Plan to reform the common agricultural policy (CAP).

In its coverage of the farmers' demonstration, held in Brussels on 23 March 1971, the Belgian farming weekly Le Sillon belge describes the confusion of European farmers over planned reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP).

On 29 March 1971, Rinse Zijlstra, Chairman of the Dutch Union of Protestant Agricultural Workers and Market Gardeners, expresses concern at the outbreaks of violence that occurred during the agricultural demonstration in Brussels and highlights the efforts made by the European authorities to establish a common agricultural policy.

On 7 April 1971, the Chairman of the Netherlands Agricultural Board, C.S. Knottnerus, gives his point of view on the need for a reform of the common agricultural policy

Map showing the location in Benelux of all projects which received financial aid from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (Guidance Section) in 1964, 1965 and 1966.

Map showing the location in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) of all projects which received financial aid from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (Guidance Section) in 1964, 1965 and 1966.

Map showing the location in France of all projects which received financial aid from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (Guidance Section) in 1964, 1965 and 1966.

Map showing the location in northern Italy of all projects which received financial aid from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (Guidance Section) in 1964, 1965 and 1966.

Map showing the location in southern Italy of all projects which received financial aid from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (Guidance Section) in 1964, 1965 and 1966.

Table showing the amount granted by the 'Guidance' Section of the EAGGF between 1964 and 1976 and the expenditure of the 'Guarantee' Section in 1971, 1973 and 1976.

On 11 July 1973, the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera is concerned at the lack of liquidity in the European Agriculture Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) which is designed to support agricultural markets and contribute to the development of the rural sector.

On 21 January 1975, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung describes the complexity of the negotiations on the fixing of agricultural prices in Europe and emphasises the efforts made by the European Commission to propose a solution acceptable to all nine Member States.

‘EEC summit meeting — From up here on the butter mountain, we have a splendid view of the sugar mountain and the cereal range, and in the far distance we can just make out Great Britain.’ On 2 December 1969, as the Hague Summit takes place, German cartoonist Hanns Erich Köhler illustrates the various challenges facing the EEC Member States, including surplus production within the common agricultural policy (CAP) and the question of the United Kingdom’s accession to the EEC. Despite the obstacles ahead for the climbers, French President Georges Pompidou encourages Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt to continue climbing. The revival of European integration at the end of 1969 was largely thanks to an initiative by French President Georges Pompidou, who proposed that a European summit be held in the Dutch city of The Hague. The event raised hopes among the general public and leading figures in the Community, since Pompidou saw this initiative as a way of helping the Community recover from the state of near paralysis from which it had been suffering since General de Gaulle adopted radical positions on certain European issues.

On 22 July 1974, the German magazine Der Spiegel ponders on the agricultural policy of the European Communities as regards beef and veal production.

On 18 April 1975, in his daily radio report from Brussels, the journalist, Jean-Charles De Keyser, focuses on the problems of agricultural surpluses in the European Economic Community (EEC).

On 7 November 1977, the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel describes the destruction of Community agricultural surpluses, although the European Community buys part of the surplus of fruit and vegetables.

On 29 November 1979, the Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir calls on the Nine to undertake a reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP) as a matter of urgency.

In January 1981, the monthly publication 30 jours d’Europe considers the policy of export subsidies for Community agricultural surpluses.

On 17 June 1983, the Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir criticises the operation of the common agricultural policy (CAP) which leads, in particular, to the mass destruction of fruit and vegetable surpluses.

On 10 July 1984, Ignaz Kiechle, the German Agriculture Minister, gives an address on agricultural surpluses in the European Community.

On 17 January 1985, the European Parliament adopts a resolution in which it promotes the common agricultural policy (CAP) and suggests various measures to counter the criticism levelled at the European Community regarding the destruction of fruit and vegetables.

In this interview, Georges Rencki, Head of Division responsible for the policy to modernise agricultural structures in the Directorate-General for Agriculture (1968–1977), discusses how the Council’s failure to adopt Mansholt’s proposal on reducing farming area and herd size on 24 March 1972 affected agricultural production and the public perception of the CAP.