This briefing offers insight into the strategic implications of European Union enlargement for South Africa’s trade strategy. This briefing focuses on the dynamics most likely to impact on EU trade strategy particularly in the sphere of agricultural policy; and how the broader political dynamics pertaining to enlargement will affect South Africa’s trade strategy. The continued existence of welfare state systems in most western European countries gives rise to a general reluctance to liberalise. The route of EU agricultural policy is of most interest in EU trade strategy.
