The European Commission has presented a Report with the review of the transitional measures for the acquisition of agricultural real estate set out in the 2003 Accession Treaty (COM(2008) 461 final).

The Commission presented this report to the Council in accordance with the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the European Union is founded (the Act on Accession of 2003). In seven out of ten new Member States, the Act established transitional periods for the purchase of agricultural land by foreigners, but also stipulated that “a general review of these transitional measures shall be held in the third year following the date of accession. To this effect, the Commission shall submit a report to the Council.”

Objectives of the report

The Commission’s objective was to review the transitional measures and their effects in order to report on the potential for moving forward the end date of the transitional measures. Given the reasons behind the temporary derogations, the Commission set out to investigate whether the initial concerns had been mitigated by subsequent developments in the NMS7 sufficiently to allow the derogation to be terminated ahead of deadline. This involved a survey and analysis of developments since the accession negotiations and a comparison with the situation and developments in the “old” Member States.

Main Conclusions

• Considerable foreign presence in the form of rented agricultural land in the NMS7
• Commission study has shown that the gap between NMS7 and the EU15 in terms of income and land prices has declined over recent years. Still, prices are well off from complete convergence, though this would not be neither expected nor seen as a necessary condition for terminating the derogations.
• Socio-economic conditions for agricultural production have improved, and this positive trend is expected to continue.