Implementation of EU Agri-Environmental Measures at the Regional Level: Economic and Political Constraints

In this paper we apply a political objective function approach developed by Salhofer and Glebe (2004) to explain the high variability of agri-environmental program implementation at the EU regional level. The analysis covers 55 EU regions during the period 2001-2002, using basic data extracted from the Common Monitoring Indicators collected by the UE Commission for the programme’s evaluation process. The main results indicate that the area covered by agrienvironmental programs increases in regions where budget constraints are less severe and where the social demand for environmental amenities is more relevant. Moreover, agri-environmental programs are negatively related to the participation opportunity cost and show a non linear relation with the farmer’s political weight.