The aim of this Conference is to understand how far the ideas on CAP reform, expressed by a wide variety of civil society organisations, have been accepted by the European Institutions; and to discuss how civil society can best contribute to the continuing process of shaping that reform over the next year.The Conference will be co-hosted by ARC and the European Economic and Social Committee. Invited are representatives of civil society organisations and other key stakeholders in agriculture and rural development.Key themes in the CAP reform process will be presented and discussed with guest experts Jim Harkness - Director of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Tim Lang - Professor of Food Policy at City University London and Erik Mathijs - Professor and head of division of agricultural and food economics at the K.U.Leuven. We will be brought up–to-date on thinking in the European institutions by Commissioner Dacian Ciolo