Agricultural Policies of the EU in the New Member States: Development or Re-Distribution?

The paper presents a critical review of the policy tools and financial resources to be applied to the new member countries (Nmcs), questioning whether these agricultural policies are adequate to pursue desirable objectives for the Nmc rural areas. The main features of the rural and agricultural economies of the Nmc are first reviewed, after which attention turns to the agricultural and rural policies that will be effectively applied in the Nmc as a result of the membership agreement and the 2003 reform of common agricultural policies. The paper argues that the single farm payment is likely to prove inadequate to pursue both agricultural development and rural income support objectives. At the same time, the rural development policies look as if they will be mainly sector-oriented, as they are devoted principally to supporting farm income rather than developing rural economies. From the financial point of view there will be significant re-distributive effects from the old member states to the Nmcs.