Enlargement of the European Union
Defra & EU enlargement
Work is ongoing at the European Commission and Defra to provide support to the acceding states - new members - and to ensure that member state concerns are taken into account during negotiations. Key areas for Defra’s EU Enlargement Team are negotiations, treaty drafting, monitoring, tariff reduction and help through the twinning and taiex programmes.
Helping the acceding countries
Defra is involved in
short and long term projects funded by the European Commission. Defra
experts share their knowledge with candidate countries to help them
set up and manage the administrative structures they will need to implement
EU rules. We
aim to help candidate countries reach the highest standards possible
before joining the EU.
Negotiations and monitoring
Defra is responsible for
co-ordinating UK input into accession negotiations, including opening
and closing benchmarks, and treaty drafting on Chapter 11 (Agriculture & Rural
Development), Chapter 12 (Food Safety, Veterinary & Phytosanitary),
Chapter 13 (Fisheries) and Chapter 27 (Environment) of the acquis communautaire.
This involves briefing the UK representatives in Brussels. We also monitor
the candidate countries progress in aligning themselves with requisite
EU rules by accession.
Agriculture by itself accounts for approximately half of all legislation and is one of the most difficult and complex areas of negotiation.
Page last modifed:
4 July 2007
Page published: 16 December 2002