Administering the Common Agricultural Policy in Bulgaria and Romania: obstacles to accountability and administrative capacity

The introduction of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union was an important step for Bulgaria and Romania. However, their administrative capacity for managing CAP instruments is still evolving, and they face challenges in delivering services that are crucial for implementing the CAP measures. This article, based on semi-structured interviews among key actors, explores administrative obstacles. The analysis is structured according to the two complementary concepts of accountability and administrative capacity. The findings show that the main accountability problems are related to a complex administrative structure and to the large number of smallholders, which necessitates greater administrative efforts than in established member states. Moreover, due to a lack of representative farmers’ associations, farmers, and particularly small farmers, have no clear means to voice their concerns. The main problems concerning administrative capacity are related to deficient data collection and processing, over-centralized decision-making, and limited coordination among agencies.

Points for practitioners

To improve the delivery of services in new member states such as Bulgaria and Romania, the CAP should pay greater attention to the specific conditions of transition countries, such as their high share of smallholders. It should be determined whether some responsibilities could be devolved to lower administration levels, e.g. by decentralizing decision-making authorities. Moreover, integrated agricultural offices should be established to house front office agencies in the same buildings, a more comprehensive and tailored system of human resource management should be developed, and the outreach of farmers’ associations should be further advanced and facilitated.