EU Integration of Ukraine – Assessing the Challenges for Agri-Food Public Authorities

Abstract

Despite defending against Russia’s full-scale invasion for two years already, Ukraine continues to advance its European ambitions. The European Council granted Ukraine candidate status in June 2022 and eventually opened accession negotiations in December 2023. Agriculture is one of the most integrated and regulated sectors in the EU. On the day of accession, an acceding country must be able to implement the administratively complex and financially demanding Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which itself could be a moving target. Furthermore, an acceding country should be able to implement the extensive EU ‘agricultural acquis’ which, together with the CAP, includes regulation of markets and standards in the areas of farming practices, animal and plant health, food safety, and environmental and animal welfare. These factors mean that Ukraine’s preparations for EU accession will require substantial additional public investments in the competent authorities and their capacities to implement and enforce the EU agricultural acquis.

This research paper describes the EU agricultural institutional landscape, including the necessary CAP implementation structures, as well other institutions required to implement the extensive EU agricultural acquis. Next, this is financially benchmarked to Ukraine’s agricultural institutional landscape, and the institutional and capacity gap is quantified in financial terms in order to guide further policy discussions.

Keywords: Ukraine, EU integration, agriculture, public authorities, EU acquis

JEL Classification: Q18, F13