A regional perspective of the Common Agricultural Policy

Regional convergence is one of the major goals of the European Union. In this paper, the intention is to address the question of whether, during the period 1995–2004 the NUTS-2 regions of EU-27 exhibited a tendency to converge in terms of agricultural labour productivity. A low annual rate of absolute convergence is estimated for the NUTS-2 regions over the period 1995–2004. The rate of regional convergence exhibits a considerable variation across different territorial divisions of the European Union. The implications of these results are discussed in the context of the Common Agricultural Policy and respective recommendations are issued.

► Slow tendency of convergence in terms of agricultural labour productivity. ► The structural conditions are substantially the cause of this phenomenon. ► Convergence appears to be faster within the EU-12 and EU-15 regions. ► The rate of regional convergence exhibits a considerable variation across EU.