Transition and integration in Europe: Implications for agricultural and food markets, policy, and trade agreements

Before going into the impact of EU enlargement on agri-food markets and on agricultural policy, I first review the changes that have occured in the agricultural and food sector of the CEECs. I will approach the issue from a broad perspective since this helps put things into context and allows more accurate conclusions to be drawn. First, while an analysis of the general transition and reforms are beyond the scope of this paper, it is important to include to some extent the general economy and reforms because they have importantly affected agricultural transition. Second, while Russia and Ukraine are not on the list for enlargement, it is useful to compare their transition processes with those of the CEECs because this allows important lessons to be learned.