EU agriculture and enlargement

European Commission Directorate-General For Agriculture And Rural Development

Description

Agricultural policy
Central and Eastern Europe
Target audience: Specialised/Technical

Informations

• Publié par: EUROPEAN-COMMISSION-DIRECTORATE-GENERAL-FOR-AGRICULTURE-AND-RURAL-DEVELOPMENT
• Nombre de lectures: 8
• Langue: English

Extrait

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ European Commission DirectorateGeneral for Agriculture

Agriculture plays an important part in the economic and political life of the 13 countries that have applied to join the European Union (EU). Although the candidate countries have made good progress since the enlargement negotia- tions began, the modernisation of their agricultural sectors and their integration into the common agricultural policy (CAP) will remain a major challenge in the coming years. This factsheet aims to provide background material on the place of agriculture in the economies of the candidate coun- tries and describe how the European Union is channelling aid to contribute to the restructuring of the farm sector in central and eastern Europe.

The Agenda 2000 reforms, concluded at the Berlin European Council meeting in March 1999, focused on increasing the competitive position of European agriculture on the world market. This meant further reducing support prices for ce- reals and beef from the year 2000 onwards and milk from 2005. Amongst other things, these measures aimed to facilitate the convergence of prices between the candidate countries and the EU and to ease the introduction of the CAP in the new Member States. Funding for the enlarge- ment of the Union in the period 2000–06 was also approved for the first time at this meeting.

The EU’s pre-accession strategy

The 13 countries currently involved in the accession negotiations are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia (collectively referred to as the central and east European countries or CEECs), Cyprus, Malta and Turkey. Negotiations for member- ship of the EU have been opened with all countries except Turkey, which still needs to fulfil the political criteria for membership. As part of the pre-accession strategy, the EU has formed a number of agreements with the candidate countries. These aim to facilitate the accession process.

EU agriculture and enlargement

Europe agreements 1 Europe (association) agreements ( ) form the basis of trade relations between the EU and the candidate countries, and aim to bring down barriers to trade. Trade in agricultural and food products is only partly covered by the agreements. Recently agreed bilateral agreements on further agricultural trade concessions will be important instruments in the gradual liberalisa- tion of bilateral trade in preparation for the full inte- gration of candidate countries into Community agri- cultural markets.

Within the framework of the Europe agreements, the 2 Association Committees ( ) and Sub-Committees on Agriculture and Fisheries are used to explain the new 3 acquis communautaire( ) and to discuss its adoption and implementation.

Agenda 2000 In Berlin in 1999, the European Council adopted pro- posals to reform major policy areasinter aliato help prepare for the challenge of expanding membership of the EU from 15 to up to 28 Member States. The reform package covered the CAP, Structural Funds and inter- nal policies, as well as the EU’s financial perspectives for the 2000–06 period. As far as the CAP is con- cerned, reform was driven by the need to make the EU farm sector more competitive in the face of increas- ingly open global trading regimes. There was also the need to respond to society’s concerns about the rela- tionship between farming and the environment, and the need to develop new strategies aimed at promoting the economic potential of the Community’s rural areas. A mid-term review of Agenda 2000 is being undertaken in 2002 and 2003 to assess whether the current measures meet the objectives established in Berlin.

1 ( ) The full texts of the Europe agreements are available on the Europa ser- ver (http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/pas/europe_agr.htm). 2 ( ) The Association Committees are high-level meetings held between the EU and the candidate countries that review in more detail all areas covered by the Europe agreements. 3 ( ) This is the body of common rights and obligations that bind the Member States of the European Union. Candidate countries must accept the acquisand bring their legislation into conformity prior to joining the EU.

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