Transition and adjustments of Slovene agriculture to EU accession

The paper describes the changes in Slovenian agriculture and agricultural policy in the period 1993-2001 in light of the foreseen Slovenia's accession to the European Union. Agriculture in Slovenia is characterised by less-favourable natural and structural conditions for agricultural production, which also explains its status of a net importer of food and its relatively protectionist agricultural policy. The period of transition was also a period of a thorough restructuring of the agricultural policy. The policy was gradually brought into line with the goals and mechanisms of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and even before accession Slovenia started to implement CAP-like measures, including direct payments and rural development policy measures. Slovenia is thus the only candidate country for EU accession with the level of supports to agriculture comparable with the level of support in the European Union. In its negotiations for EU membership, Slovenia agreed on the same level of direct payments for Slovenian farmers as received by farmers in the European Union, only that in the first period, they will be largely covered from the national budget. A comprehensive rural development programme will enable Slovenia to reorient to the new CAP goals and to pursue a more target-oriented and transparent policy. As a result of the outcome of negotiations, the economic position of Slovenian farmers after accession is not expected to change markedly on the aggregate level, particularly if all the necessary steps are made with regard to the building of an efficient system for the transposition of CAP. Accession to the EU will, however, not solve the problem of relatively poor competitiveness of the agricultural sector in Slovenia, which still has to undergo comprehensive structural changes and adjustments.