Although Parliament has lost part of its prerogatives in the field of agricultural policy, the constitution of the Fifth Republic and the Common Market has made agricultural questions the most ardently debated subjects in the National Assembly and the Senate. During the 1970-ties, Parliament has been presented with theses on agricultural policies which have had a great echo. The following article retraces these theses and argues in favour of a better knowledge of farm incomes, a more selective use of the very important public funds devoted to agriculture and critizises the practice of direct subsidies and the too social orientation of farm credit distribution. This article written in the beginning of 1981 considers the positions of the National Assembly as of its preceding composition which are very close to those of the Agricultural Commission for the VII Ith Plan.Nothing can be stated how ~ ever about the orientations of the new majority which will be defined within the agricultural budget proposal for 1982.
