ABSTRACT
The fundamental principle upon which EU accession negotiations proceed is that potential members must accept the acquis,1 but the negotiation process and adjustment subsequent to membership mean that enlargement ultimately requires substantial adjustments to the acquis. Nowhere are these adjustments greater than in agriculture and structural policies because these are the policy areas that dominate EU budgetary expenditure. Changes in these areas can provide compensation or side-payments to give the necessary flexibility that is difficult to achieve in other areas of enlargement negotiations. The importance of these policies is reinforced by the fact that they impinge directly upon politically very important constituencies and thus rank very high on the accession negotiation agenda.
