• European Commission
• Enlargement
• How does it work?
• Financial assistance

SAPARD – Special Accession Programme for Agriculture & Rural Development

The aim of SAPARD is to help the 10 beneficiary countries of Central and Eastern Europe deal with the problems of the structural adjustment in their agricultural sectors and rural areas, as well as in the implementation of the acquis communautaire concerning the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) and related legislation. It is designed to address priorities identified in the Accession Partnerships.

SAPARD was established by Council Regulation 1268/1999 in June 1999, on the basis of a Commission proposal as part of the Agenda 2000 programme for increased pre-accession assistance in the period 2000 - 2006.

Its main features are that it :

• Only finances agricultural and rural development measures
• Has a budget of € 225.2 million for Bulgaria and Romania in 2004. (Until 2003 the overall annual budget for the 10 countries of Central and Eastern Europe was € 560 million.)
• Comes under the remit of the Directorate-General for Agriculture