The new EU Member States
have already experienced substantial socio-economic restructuring prior to their
accession to the EU. Nevertheless, several of the new Member States still stand
significantly below the EU15 average in most structural and socio-economic indicators.
The adoption of the aquis communautaire and the introduction of community convergence
policies are aimed at reducing these disparities and contributing to the European
Employment and the Lisbon Strategy for Competitiveness.
The objectives of this project are:
(1) to analyse the restructuring of the agricultural sector and rural socio-economic
transformation more widely in the New Member States, with a particular focus
on five countries;
(2) to analyse the patterns behind rural ‘success stories’ in the
EU15 during previous enlargements to identify and codify best practices and
draw recommendations for the New Member States.
Methodologically, the first objective will be addressed by comparative multi-country
farm surveys, which will be econometrically analysed with a specific focus on
themes that are of most relevance for agricultural and rural livelihoods (farm
structure evolution, subsistence farming, co-operation among farmers, rural
labour markets, income diversification and pluriactivity). This will be complemented
by an analysis of structural changes in the farm sectors of two selected regions
with the agent-based simulation model AgriPoliS, taking special account of demographic
changes. The second objective will be based on semi-structured expert interviews
among relevant stakeholders in selected regions of five established Member States.
Further information on this project is available at www.scarled.eu
Project funder:
EU Framework VI SSP
Staff involved: Matthew Gorton and Carmen
Hubbard
Project duration: 2007-2009