EU enlargement and agricultural trade between new and old member states: any changes one year after accession?

Key words

EU enlargement agricultural trade

Abstract

The paper aims to evaluate whether or not the last EU enlargement to the new 10 member states (EUN-10) has influenced the intra EU trade of agricultural products. In particular, the analysis focuses on the effects on trade between two groups of countries EU-15 and EUN-8 (i.e. the Central-Eastern Europe new members countries) of the EU-accession process. The import-export flows show a noticeable increase in trade between the two areas over the last decade. This increase surely stems from the opening up process, but according to second best theory in international trade which applies to Customs Unions – it not necessarily favours efficiency as far as social welfare is concerned. The analysis shows also that the comparative advantages in certain products, which ten years ago fuelled trade, do not appear to have altered the position of the two groups of countries. Focusing on agricultural products the integration process, which was already underway during the pre-accession period, has maintained and not reduced their specific specialization.