Agricultural Policy Monitoring

Focus

For many years, the SWG has maintained a regional network of relevant national, regional and international experts and decision-makers for monitoring policy in the areas of agriculture and rural development. The working group focuses on an in-depth analysis of policy instruments and measures in the EU accession countries and on alignment with the EU Common Agricultural Policy. This provides policy makers and other stakeholders with valuable insights into the strategic and operational policy frameworks and budgetary transfers for agriculture and rural development. The methodology applied enables a consistent and comparative outlook on developments in the individual EU accession countries, but also in the region as a whole and with the EU.

Activities

• The working group conducts a policy analysis to identify recent changes in the national agricultural policies of EU accession countries and their impact on the EU accession process. This analysis includes an update of agricultural policy data for the past available years (2022-2023). A common methodology is applied, using standardized templates for data collection and a predefined structure for the national reports. 
• The tailor-made instrument for classifying agricultural policy measures – the Agri-Policy Measures Classification (APMC) Tool – is used to compare the development of agricultural policy measures and payments between the project countries and with the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). 
• Based on national reports, regional coordinators prepare a comparative cross-national analysis of the latest agricultural policy developments in the Western Balkan countries.
• The analysis makes it possible to formulate evidence-based recommendations to guide EU pre-accession countries' policies towards the promotion of sustainable agriculture and rural development and smoother approximation to the EU, paying particular attention to the implementation of the EU's Green Agenda for the Western Balkans.
• The two-day Agricultural Policy Forum (APF) takes place every year. This provides a broad platform for discussions and recommendations on regional policy issues relating to agriculture and rural development in South East Europe. The latest agricultural policy developments are presented.

Results

Meetings of the working group on agricultural policy monitoring 

An interim meeting of the working group took place in October 2023 as part of the APF. The national experts presented their first drafts of the national policy developments and the regional coordinators prepared the preliminary transnational analysis. The conclusions of the working group on the development of agricultural policy are available here.

Another interim meeting was held in June 2024 to discuss progress and developments in the region's agricultural policy. The final drafts of the national reports were presented and the regional coordinators gave an overview of the cross-country analysis focusing on the years 2022 and 2023. The analysis identified existing gaps and pointed out current and future challenges.

Exchange of expertise in Brussels 2023

In December 2023, five members of the working group took part in an expert exchange in Brussels together with representatives from SWG and IAK. The program included participation in the EU-AGRI Food Days and the Policy Outlook Conference to discuss the latest trends in EU agricultural policy.