Financial Flows Between Poland and EU within the Framework of CAP Shown Against the Background of Agriculture’s Economic Results

Abstract

Poland joined the European Union in May 2004. For the Polish agricultural sector and rural areas this fact meant the start of implementation of coherent and complimentary set of agricultural policy measures and the emergence of possibilities to use EU financial assistance, especially funds offered within the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). It also created the necessity to co-finance and pre-finance EU projects. As a result, outlays on agriculture from the Polish budget have increased, which, together with means allocated from the EU funds, has helped improve the income situation of the agricultural sector. However, the improvement in the income situation has not evoked desirable structural changes in Polish agriculture. The number of persons employed in the agricultural sector is almost the same as in the pre-accession period and the number of farms has diminished only slightly, with the acreage of average farm increasing by less than 5%. A comparison of the economic results and structure of Polish and European agriculture shows that the figures characterizing Poland are far less favourable than those recorded for most EU countries. This means that the continuation of CAP has a crucial meaning for Poland and for further structural adjustments in its agricultural sector.