Enlargement negotiations between Poland and the European Union on the chapter of agriculture

Official URL: http://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b1150151 (Table of Contents)

European Union (EU) recently went through a long and complex process of enlargement and welcomed 10 more new states. Among the 10 new comers, Poland is a crucial accession country due to its size, geographical position, and large population. In addition, it has a problematic industrial restructuring and a large agricultural sector. It is hard for the European Union to digest Poland and therefore the outcome of the negotiations with Poland had and will have a leverage effect for other countries with similar issues to tackle with the EU. Agriculture is considered as one of the most complicated issues between Poland and the EU not only due to the large and inefficient agricultural sector in Poland, but also due to the internal problems EU is facing with its policies on agriculture. This thesis will focus on the negotiations between the EU and Poland on the chapter of agriculture, which is one of the 31 chapters of the acquis communataire. Enlargement negotiations are the negotiations on the compliance of the candidate states with the acquis communataire of the European Community. Acquis communataire is the legislation of the European Community. It encompasses the founding treaties of the Community, subsidiary treaties, secondary legislation and decisions, opinions and general principles of European Court of Justice. Acquis is presented in 31 chapters to the candidates. The thesis aims to analyse the negotiation process between EU and Poland on the chapter of agriculture, providing an insight into the context and background of the negotiations. Each negotiation issue stated by Poland as a response to the acquis presented by the EU has been discussed thouroughly based on primary resources from the EU and Poland.