Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
Institut für Politikwissenschaft
Hauptseminar: Poland in the European Union – A Newcomer’s Perspective
6. Fachsemester, Sommersemester 2005

The agricultural sector in Spain and Poland
during the pre-accession period

by: Bernd Reismann

Table of contents

Introduction 3

1. The agricultural sector of Spain and Poland 4

1.1. Difficult starting points in Spain and Poland 4

1.1.1 Spain 4
1.1.2 Poland 5
1.1.3 Figures, rates and quotas of Spain and Poland 6

2. Differences and similarities between the Spanish and the Polish accession 7

3. Comparison between the former Spanish and the common Polish expectations of the EC/EU accession 10

4. Conclusion 14

5. Bibliography 16

Introduction

This paper deals with Poland ’s membership in the European Union and its effects on the Polish agriculture. The integration of Poland’s agricultural economy into the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will become one of the key issues and has been one of the most difficult issue s during the negotiations on the conditions of Poland’s membership in the EU. ¹ The aim of this paper is to point out the advantages and disadvantages, the costs and benefits as well as the opportunities and threats to Poland’s agricultural sector by comparing it with the situation of Spain in the middle of the 1980’s when Spain became a new member of the European Community. A comparison between these two states makes sense because both had quite similar starting points when they were joining the EC/EU. Therefore, the first chapter will give a historical overview of the agricultural sector in both states first of all. After that, production and export rates, proportions to each GDP and international scales as well as prospective and present changes after EC/EU-membership will be shortly presented and set into comparison.

The second chapter compares the Spanish membership negotiations for its agricultural sector to the positions of Poland. Both states gained special exceptions, privileges and transitional periods for their agriculture which are not only useful for the farmers but for financial policy, too. These points will be described and compared. The third chapter presents the Polish agriculture’s future expectations. On the one hand threats and benefits will be listed up and proved to their validity. On the other hand, the Spanish expectations and fears of EC-membership in 1986 will be presented to prove the circumference of positive and negative expectations that came into existence. The fourth chapter gives a summary how far Poland and Spain are comparable in terms of their agricultural sector. Second, the experiences of Spain are used as a template to give answers for the future questions of the Polish agriculture.

1.1. Difficult starting points in Spain and Poland

1.1.1. Spain

When Spain joined the EC in 1986, the country got over several years of political, social and economical changes after the regime of Franco. Until its end in 1975, the regime’s aim was the autarky of the Spanish grain production. The effect was on the one hand the cultivation of huge amounts of grain on unsuited soil, on the other hand the neglect of products like citrus fruits which were the greatest bringer of foreign exchange. Another bad estate of the Franco-regime was the non-solved problem of the land distribution. Huge lands were still in the hands of a few landowners in southern and western Spain, whereas small scale enterprises of less than 1 ha, often not enough to secure the existence of the family, were predominant in the north and central Spain.² During the 1960’s, the regime in Madrid realised that the customs policy of the EEC became a threat to its important foreign exchange bringers, agricultural products. A solution would have been an association agreement between Spain and the EEC member states as it already existed between the EEC and Greece, Turkey and Israel. But the accession of a fascist regime like Spain, even as an associated member, would have been a cont radiction to the principle s of the EEC. Democracy, rule of law and free trade were the conditions to join the association agreement, obtaining a full member status in the near future. On the other hand, the EEC saw its obligation to support the process of democratisation and the opening of shut down societies. ³ So, after difficult negotiations, the status of a “preferred trade agreement” was found for Spain, which was acceptable for both sides in 1970.⁴ Finally, after Franco’s death in 1975 and the end of the fascist regime, Spain was able to apply the petition to join the EEC as a full member in 1977. But it lasted nearly ten years until Spain became a full member of the EC in 1986.⁵

1.1.2 Poland

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1 See: Rowiñski, Janusz. The Adjustment Process of the Polish Agrofood Industry and Trade in Agricultural and Food Products. In: Lippert, Barbara; Becker, Peter (eds.). Towards EU - Membership. Transformation and Integration in Poland and the Czech Republic. Bonn 1998. P. 247.

2 See: Hommel, Klaus. Spanien und die Europäische Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft. Geschichte einer Integration. Baden-Baden 1992. P. 185 ff.

3 See: Hommel. P. 212 ff.

4 See: a.a.O., P. 365.

5 See: a.a.O., P. 350.