The measures of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and Regional (Cohesion) Policy are aimed at achieving cohesion, i.e. reducing the economic (sectoral), social and territorial disparities at European Union level. The issue of rural areas has become an important part of the CAP measures in Pillar 2. Since the CAP does not have a primarily territorial orientation, it does not contribute to territorial cohesion of rural areas. In a similar vein, regional policy, which is primarily oriented towards territorial development, also failed to give rise to complete, balanced development. Using qualitative analysis, this article summarises references selected on the basis of the authors’ experience in policy issues. The types of discourse included on the subject of coherence of common policies are the role of agricultural, rural and regional policy in cohesion and the conflict of cohesion and competitiveness objectives. Modern political and economic efforts of converging competitiveness into the macro concept with spatial implication result in planning and implementation of inappropriate measures and instruments intended to encourage the balanced territorial development of the EU. From this arises a conflict of cohesion and competitiveness, coupled with long-term consequences for the most vulnerable areas.

The aim of the paper is: 1) to determine the key changes in the evolution process of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and the Croatia’s fisheries policy and 2) to describe the structure and dynamics of macroeconomic and budget performance related to Croatian fisheries in the period 2007-2016. Two methods were used: the historical method and the descriptive analysis of macroeconomic performance and budget structure. The CFP was officially introduced in 1983, bringing the management of fisheries in all EU member states under one system. Its aims were: to resolve sea conflicts between member states, to provide stability to the fisheries sector, to prevent a total collapse of fish stocks and to provide higher quality of life to the fishermen. However, the CFP has constantly been criticized for poor enforcement of environmental measures and scientific recommendations, and for the lack of a common language between the EU institutions and local stakeholders. Both the European and Croatian fisheries sector faced many problems, especially during the transition period in the 1990s. Some of them included a serious decrease of catches, outdated technology and fisheries fleet, depletion of demersal species, lack of developmental trends in mariculture, absence of measures of rational exploitation and protection of economically significant species. The negotiation period was an opportunity for the fisheries sector in Croatia to adapt its goals, measures and stakeholders in order to achieve a more sustainable and internationally competitive fisheries sector in the future. The membership facilitates trade in the EU area, along with providing significant funding and technical assistance. The budget support structure and the existing policy framework point out an increase in the implementation of structural measures which should assist in an overall improvement of social, economic and environmental aspects of fisheries.

The aim of this paper is to identify farmers' attitudes towards the impact of state aid on business decisions and financial stability of farms. It will also identify the share of agricultural support in the total income of farms and the reasons for certain agricultural branches having unequal economic dependence on the support. Furthermore, it will investigate which of the two pillars of the CAP farmers consider being more important for their business and which factors would mostly contribute to the increase of production on their farms. The research involved 184 holders of family farms from all Croatian counties and the City of Zagreb. The data were analyzed using the univariate (frequency) and two-variate (chi-square test) method. The main production on the farms has a statistically significant (P<0.05) effect on the share of state support in the total income of the farm as well as on the influence of the amount of state support to business decisions. Most of the respondents engaged in animal husbandry and farming declared that their farms would not be financially viable in the case of state support abolition, while the situation is different in fruit growing, vegetable growing and floriculture. The paper also demonstrates the extent to which selected motivators (satisfactory state aid, higher purchase prices, less bureaucracy, lower taxes, assured market, cheap loans and availability of agricultural land) are important to farmers when deciding whether to increase the agricultural production on their farms. Overall, the two pillars of the CAP are equally important for the farmers but there is a statistically significant difference in the importance of each pillar of the CAP in regard to the prevailing production on the farm. The results of the study demonstrate both the importance of state support for the business of certain agricultural producers, especially herders, and the difference in sensitivity to possible changes in support policy.

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Ekološka poljoprivreda je rastući sektor u Europskoj uniji (EU). Cilj rada je bio ustanoviti načine korištenja ekoloških površina na razini Europske unije i u odabranim državama članicama u razdoblju od 2012. – 2017. godine. Ekološke površine su se na razini Europske unije u promatranom razdoblju povećale za 25%. Najveće povećanje su zabilježile Bugarska (249%) i Hrvatska (202%), a slijede Francuska (69,21%), Italija (63,49%), Mađarska (52,89%) i Litva (49,57%). Obzirom na način korištenja u Europskoj uniji u 2017. godini ima podjednako obradivih površina (44,5%) i trajnih travnjaka (44,4%) dok višegodišnji nasadi zauzimaju 11,1% površina. Kada se prati kretanje pojedinih načina korištenja zemljišta u razdoblju od 2013. do 2017. godine, najveći rast bilježe obradive površine (29%), slijede trajni travnjaci (22%) i višegodišnji nasadi (19%).