Implementation of EU Agri-Environmental Measures at the Regional Level: Economic and Political Constraints

In this paper we apply a political objective function approach developed by Salhofer and Glebe (2004) to explain the high variability of agri-environmental program implementation at the EU regional level. The analysis covers 55 EU regions during the period 2001-2002, using basic data extracted from the Common Monitoring Indicators collected by the UE Commission for the programme's evaluation process. The main results indicate that the area covered by agri-environmental programs increases in regions where budget constraints are less severe and where the social demand for environmental amenities is more relevant. Moreover, agri-environmental programs are negatively related to the participation opportunity cost and show a non linear relation with the farmer's political weight.