Agricultural policy developments in the EU pre-accession countries : executive summary

The project "Comparative analysis of agricultural sectors and rural areas in the pre-accession countries: Agricultural policy developments, situation of the agri-food sector and economic context" is financed by Directorate-General Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission and implemented by a consortium comprised of Stichting Wageningen Research (Wageningen Economic Research - WECR) and the Regional Rural Development Standing Working Group in South Eastern Europe (SWG). The overall aim of the project is to gain more knowledge on the progress of development of the agri-food sector in the Western Balkan countries/territories (WB) and Türkiye as well as on the approximation of agriculture and rural development policies with the CAP, to be able to better design IPA rural development programmes (IPARD) in the candidate countries. This study has the research objective to carry out the analyses and data collection on agricultural policy developments in the EU pre-accession countries/territories, with emphasis on the recent changes in 2020 and 2021. It further aims to evaluate the EU approximation process of the WB countries/territories and Türkiye, and draw policy recommendations. A special emphasis is placed on the greening aspects of the agricultural policies in the region, as well as the implications of the measures taken in the Covid-19 context. The WB countries/territories included in the study are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Kosovo*, Montenegro, Serbia, alongside, to the extent possible, Türkiye. An additional valuable output of this project is the country level and cross-country level harmonised and consistent agricultural policy databases. The study is composed of a cross-country comparative analysis on the policy developments (Chapter 1) and individual country case studies (Chapters 2 to 8). The overall study objectives, methodology applied and data sources are described in the beginning of the cross-country comparative analysis chapter. Both the cross-country comparative analysis and the individual country case studies then follow a similar structure, focusing on the WB countries/territories and Türkiye's agricultural policy framework; the measures, financing and budgetary transfers to agriculture and rural development; the Covid-19 related agricultural policy interventions and implications; the policy objectives, instruments and measures addressing the need for greener policy in view of the growing challenges related to the climate change, biodiversity loss and management of natural resources; the state of harmonisation with the EU CAP and the approximation of agricultural policies in the candidate countries with the EU CAP, with conclusions and recommendations.