Agriculture in the Europe of 25 portal
Most of the information presented through this portal relates to the enlargement process of the European Union, from an agricultural perspective, and to the description of the agricultural situation of formerly acceding countries. The latter is a series of country reports dated July 2002 which in turn represent an update of the series on the agricultural situation and prospects in the central and eastern European countries series, produced in 1998. Country reports provide a general description of the economy, the farming structure, crop and livestock production, value of production, prices and incomes, agricultural trade, policy and budget and, finally, an overview of the food industry.
More recently (2003), three studies have been published on social security systems and demographic developments in agriculture, developments in the agri-food chain and impact analysis of enlargement on agricultural markets and incomes where three different accession scenarios were reviewed. This last report was updated in 2004 with a medium-term outlook for the whole of Europe up to 2010: Medium-term prospects for agricultural markets and income in the European Union 2003-2010 (
778 kb). The outlook provides projections for cereal, meat and dairy commodity markets and takes into account the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) reform adopted in 2003.
The current situation and prospects of rural areas in Bulgaria, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia are analysed in a recent, comprehensive report ( 3.3 Mb, January 2004) prepared by the Network of Independent Agricultural Experts in the central and eastern European countries. This report provides a good and updated picture of the agricultural and agri-food sectors and their future developments, including an analysis of rural economies (and the labour market), infrastructure, services and policies. Aiming to determine the key factors influencing rural areas and to facilitate the elaboration of measures promoting development, the report presents a cluster analysis, down to NUTS-3 level (Nomenclature des Unités Territoriales Statistiques), with five main types of regions, three of which are essentially rural.
The portal also includes links to the CAP page of the European Commission, to the proceedings of the conference held in Sofia in March 2003 on ‘Opportunities and perspectives of the CAP in an enlarged European Union’ and to the conference on ‘Rural development’ held in Salzburg in November 2003.
Access information:
All quoted documents are downloadable for free as html pages or pdf documents.
Assessment
A key portal to follow and understand the developments of the agricultural sector at European level and, in particular, the changes occurred and the prospects, including the rural component and the agri-food chains, in the new Member States.
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