Regional Disparities in the European Union from the Perspective of Environmental Context Indicators

Abstract

Abstract The agricultural sector is one of the most important sectors of the countries’ economies and agricultural production has a huge socio-economic importance. In the current conditions of globalization and diversification of production, agriculture tries to achieve continuous development, realization of the potential, growth of the quantity and quality of the agricultural production, ensuring food security of the country. The quantitative and qualitative development of the agricultural sector takes place within a certain system, which is created under the influence of economic, social, and environmental factors based on innovations associated with transformation. These components of the current development of the agricultural sector are undergoing constant transformations, leading to the imbalances and the emergence of destructive processes within the complex system of the agricultural sector. Exploring regional disparities in terms of environmental and economic context indicators of CAP is strategically important for the stable rural and regional development of countries, increasing the competitiveness of agriculture, and sustainable and integrated development of regions. Based on the results of the calculations, we confirmed the effect of catching up between poorer and richer EU countries and identified the future trends in the occurrence and reduction of regional disparities.