Les accords européens et l'élargissement de l'Union européenne aux PECO

Our paper is based on an assessment of the trade impact, with respect to agricultural products, of the European Agreement signed by Hungary and the European Union (EU). The paper focuses on Hungarian exports to the EU. Assessment of the agreement shows a very weak impact for Hungarian agricultural trade. Detailed analysis of the trade preferences and analysis of the Hungarian agricultural situation provide elements to explain such weak results. We then review different ways to improve the implementation and impact of the preferences which could be applied during the second period of the agricultural part of the agreement (1996-2001). The second section of the paper is devoted to lessons that can be drawn from implementation of the EA in the agricultural sphere for accession of Hungary to the EU. First, the role of EA in the convergence of legislation is underlined. Second, the necessity of increasing Hungarian agro- food industry competitiveness is stressed. Potential support of the eu in this endeavour is finally discussed.