Agriculture is an economic activity of particular societal importance due to its multifunctional role. It generates both direct and indirect employment, serves as a source of food, and is a fundamental prerequisite for preserving biodiversity and landscape diversity. It also maintains rural population levels, forms the basis of nature-based tourism, and enables environmental and social functions of rural space, such as ecosystem services, aesthetics, culture, and recreation. In addressing these challenges, it is essential for European Union Member States to preserve agricultural landscapes and promote the competitiveness of agriculture.
Although the share of agriculture in the economy of developed countries—such as the European Union—is relatively small today, public interventions have recently intensified through agricultural and rural development policies. These go beyond the traditional role of food production and support other aspects of this primary activity, such as sustainable development, climate change mitigation, land use and spatial planning, diversification and revitalization of rural economies, public health, product quality, and the production of energy and bio-based materials.
The financial programming period of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for 2014–2020 is coming to a close, extending until 2022. In this master’s thesis, I analyzed this period in detail, focusing on the absorption of EU funds under the Rural Development Programme in the Republic of Slovenia and attempted to compare it with other EU Member States. My aim was to determine how successful Slovenia has been in drawing down these funds compared to other countries. There is a notable lack of information on this topic, particularly in the area of rural development. The analysis indicates that Slovenia has been relatively successful in this regard. It further shows that the effectiveness of fund absorption is closely linked to a country’s administrative and institutional capacities.
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