The aim of this report is to analyse recent agricultural policy developments in the countries/territories of the Western Balkans (WBs) and Turkey and their state of harmonisation with the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU. The report provides both comparative cross-country analyses and a more detailed assessment in the form of country case studies. The report builds on the series of previous work undertaken on a similar issue by providing an update on the recent agricultural policy developments in the region. That is, the report covers the period from 2017 to 2019 in detail, with reference made to changes that took place in the previous decade. The comparative cross-country analyses carried out in this report follow the conceptual framework that defines the key harmonisation principles required to align the agricultural policies of the WBs and Turkey with the EU's CAP. A quantitative analysis of agricultural policy developments was performed using data on budgetary support for agriculture, systematised according to the unified statistical databases and the Agricultural Policy Measures Classification (APMC) tool, a uniform classification scheme of agricultural budgetary support enabling a comparison of the scope and structure of budgetary support for agriculture between the WBs and Turkey and the EU. The alignment of the agricultural policies of the WBs and Turkey with the EU's CAP is rather heterogeneous across countries/territories. Overall, the agricultural policies of the WBs and Turkey are more in line in terms of commitment and future planning than in terms of the policy measures actually implemented. The WB countries/territories and Turkey adopted, to a large extent, the sustainability model in their medium- and long-term strategic planning for future agricultural policies by aiming to promote economic, environmental and social objectives in the agricultural sector and rural regions. However, when it comes to the implementation of measures, support is mainly production oriented and has a sectorial focus. Overall, in recent years, agricultural support has increased in the WB countries/territories, but there has been a notable decrease in Turkey. Regarding the structure of agricultural support, market and direct support measures (first pillar) dominate the support measures in almost all countries/territories, followed by structural and rural development support (second pillar), while only a small proportion of the total support is allocated to other agricultural support (third pillar) in all countries/territories. A key difference in the agricultural policies of the WBs and Turkey and of the EU's CAP is the type of measures implemented. First, the WBs and Turkey allocate first pillar support primarily through coupled direct support, whereas in the EU the main type of direct support is decoupled payments. A second important difference between the WBs and Turkey and the EU's CAP is in second pillar support. In all of the WBs and Turkey, this support is almost entirely targeted at improving competitiveness within the agri-food sector, whereas less support tends to be allocated to promoting quality of life and employment in rural areas and, in particular, to promoting the delivery of environmental and agricultural public goods. In the EU, the reverse situation holds. A major challenge, related to the alignment of the agricultural policies of the WBs and Turkey with the EU, which still remains unsolved in the region, is linked to capacity building and the institutional set-up in the public administration responsible for managing and implementing agricultural support. In addition, in the WBs and Turkey, the development of a strategic policy framework with respect to monitoring and analytical capabilities has been insufficient to ensure that, upon eventual accession, they are able to implement the CAP policy cycle, consisting of, among other things, planning, evaluation and contributions to the formulation of an effective support system.
