The Agenda 2000 CAP Reform Agreement in the Light of the Future EU Enlargement

In March 1999, the EU Heads of Governments and States met at Berlin under the German Presidency, where they reached at the long-waited overall agreement on Agenda 2000 package. By attaining a compromise on the policy reforms proposed by the Commission almost two years ago, the agreement of this extraordinary European Council Summit is supposed to pave the way for the future enlargement of the EU with the 10 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) and Cyprus.

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), still representing the most important and most comprehensive policy of the Community in terms, at least, of integrity and budget, could not but be an essential part of the Agenda 2000 package. In fact, its proposed new reform was perhaps the most "delicate" and the most "complicated" issue of the package. After a profound analysis of the current situation of the agricultural sector inside and outside the EU, the Commission submitted its detailed proposals, based on a number of targets that had to be met.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the final agreement is adequate, indeed, to meet the initial targets of the reform, as were outlined by the Commission, and in particular, to meet the requirements of the forthcoming enlargement, from the point of view of both, the internal market of EU-15 and the new comers.