By Johan F. M. Swinnen

Fifteen years after the Berlin Wall fell and signaled the beginning of a vast set of changes throughout the countries of the former Soviet Bloc, eight Central and Eastern European countries (CEEGs) will become members of the European Union (EU). They affected society in a multitude of ways. They affected the way the political and economic system operated but also the social organization of society, the psychology of the people living in the countries, and the culture of day to day life.

This paper reviews the state of agriculture and of agricultural policies in the formerly centrally planned economies of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. All countries went through profound economic and institutional transitions, with important consequences for the organization of their agri-food systems, output, and productivity, as well as government policies. However, after ten years of transition the economies and policies differ significantly among countries. In addition, the international institutional environment which they face differs.

Eight countries in central and Eastern Europe have made significant progress in economic and institutional reforms and will join the EU in 2004. This will have profound implications for their agriculture, as they will be integrated in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU.

This paper summarizes key developments in the agri-food sector as wells in agricultural policies. The paper focuses on how opening up to global forces and changes in trading regimes and integration in international institutions has affected the economies and policies, and which are key policy issues for the future. A key argument of the paper is that, in order to understand the political effects of access to international markets and integration in regional and multi lateral agreements, it is crucial to understand the structural characteristics of the transition economies, and how they have been affected by the transition process. For this reason the author begins with key aspects of the transition process, before turning to more specific international issues. Attention is given to such topics decline and growth during transition, subsidies and farm support, structural reforms and productivity growth in this initial section. The focus of the paper then centers on international aspects of transition. Such economic topics detailed are migration, capital flows, and foreign direct investment.
The remaining sections of the paper summarize recent International agreements and conclude with a discussion of the economic role and impact of member states upon EU enlargement.

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