Analysis of EU-CEEC Migration with Special Reference to Agricultural Labour

A descriptive approach of labour migration is analysed in a context of regional agricultural labour movement following the enlargement of the European Union. Considering the different agricultural systems of the candidate countries and their need of restructering their agricultural sector, it has been found that fears of mass migration of agricultural labour from CEEC to the EU after enlargement are ill-founded, because the extension of the Common Agricultural Policy to candidate countries will slow down migration of agricultural labour, due to the provision of income support and also to the strengthening of rural economies via the Rural Development scheme. After providing some evidence of this findings, the migration flow is analysed through an impact study using country specific agricultural labour data in Central and Eastern Europe over the 1992–2000 period.