"The Note looks at impacts of European Union accession on agriculture and rural sectors, taking into account specific sectoral features and policy choices pre- and post-accession. The most important lesson learned from recently acceded member states is that policy choices before accession will largely determine whether the agriculture sector will be able to fully reap the benefits of EU membership, by expanding trade, or will struggle in the face of increased market pressure.
Every EU candidate country faces a twofold challenge: it needs to direct its agriculture and rural development policy towards increased sectoral competitiveness, and align its legal framework and institutions with the EU membership requirements. Far too often, fulfilling the latter becomes the leading priority, while some underlying sectoral challenges are overlooked. These fail to receive appropriate support pre- and post- accession − due to suboptimal domestic policies and/or foregone EU funding opportunitie
