Accession to the European Union (EU) is undoubtedly a political goal for the Western Balkan (WB) countries, even though these countries are at different stages of integration with the EU. The adaptation and the modernisation of agriculture play important roles in this process and they are directed by national decision-makers, who use pre-accession instruments, changes in legislation, institution-building and agricultural policy reform to promote the development of the agricultural sector and of rural areas. Agricultural policy reforms can take different forms and can be conducted based on different concepts and rates of change over time. However, if policy is to serve as a means to achieve certain goals, reforms must be planned, steered and executed according to the principles of evidence-based policymaking. This means that a modern government must produce policies that are based on hard facts, not on ideology, are proactive rather than reactive and address causes rather than symptoms. The theoretical principles of modern agricultural policy state that evidence-based policy is founded on rigorously established objective evidence, good data, the use and development of empirical tools, policy analysis, benchmarking and impact assessments. Thus, the WB countries' governments are not only working towards harmonising their agriculture in view of their potential EU membership, but are also cooperating to build the foundations of a modern, efficient agricultural policy. Although the common agricultural policy (CAP) might, admittedly, not always represent a model of evidence-based policy, the elements listed above are continuously being included in the CAP and it can therefore serve as an example for the WB countries. The WB countries are at different stages of forming this kind of policymaking. While the development and quality of policy monitoring is only at an initial stage in some countries, others already make regular annual reports regarding the status of the agricultural sector. However, the reporting of budgetary transfers to agriculture is mostly less transparent, while policy impact assessments and evaluations are practically non-existent, resulting in low-quality policy planning and decision-making that is not evidence based.
