THE POSSIBLE EFFECTS OF THE EU ACCESSION ON THE WESTERN BALKANS AGRICULTURAL TRADE

Authors

  • Tamás Mizik, PhD Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest
  • William Meyers Howard Cowden Professor, Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Missouri, Columbia

Keywords:

Western Balkans agriculture, agricultural trade and trade policies, WTO.

Abstract

The quickest accession to the European Union is a shared, short term goal of the Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Montenegro, while Croatia has already accessed). It will cause remarkable changes on their agricultural sector and therefore on their agricultural trade. In order to evaluate the possible effects of the accession, the present situation of agriculture should be analysed. This paper gives an overview of the Western Balkan countries agriculture (agricultural value added, agricultural employment, agricultural production and its structure) and its trade relations (major trade partners, major products, trade balance,) and discusses the potential impact that adoption of EU domestic agricultural and trade policy would have on the sector. The experience of other new member states from Central and Eastern Europe shows that price, production and trade can change significantly after accession as well as during the pre-accession period. How much of this adjustment occurs before or after accession depends on the pre-accession policy and market adjustments. Finding niche markets or being cost competitive are crucial tasks for these countries during the accession process.

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References

1. Kazlauskiene, N., Meyers, W. H. (2004): Implications of EU Accession for Trade Regimes and Trade Flows of CEECs, Agricultural Sciences, Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, vol. 4, pp. 11-19.
2. Lampietti, J., Lugg, D., Van der Celen, P., Branczik, A. (2009): The Changing Face of Rural Space - Agriculture and Rural Development in the Western Balkans, World Bank, Washington, USA.
3. Mizik, T. (2010): The Diversity of the Agriculture in the Selected Former Soviet and Western Balkan Countries, Policy Studies on Rural Transition, No. 2010-2, FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, Budapest, Hungary.
4. Mizik, T. (2011): A Snapshot of Western Balkans Agriculture from the Perspective of EU Accession, Studies in Agricultural Economics, no. 114., pp. 39-48.
5. Rasavac, S., Cuk, I. (2009): Main Achievements and Key Regulatory Features of Food Safety Systems in Western Balkans, IFC Conference "Reforming Food Safety Regulations in Ukraine: International Best Practices and Proposals for Policymakers", May 2009, Kiev, Ukraine.
6. Volk, T. (ed.), (2010): Agriculture in the Western Balkan Countries, Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Central and Eastern Europe, Vol. 57, IAMO, Halle/Saale, Germany.
7. World Bank (2013): Albania. World Bank Group Partnership – Country Program, March, 2013, Washington D.C., USA.

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Published

2013-12-31

How to Cite

Mizik, T., & Meyers, W. (2013). THE POSSIBLE EFFECTS OF THE EU ACCESSION ON THE WESTERN BALKANS AGRICULTURAL TRADE. Economics of Agriculture, 60(4), 857–865. Retrieved from https://ea.bg.ac.rs/index.php/EA/article/view/425