The Effect of CAP Payments on Territorial Cohesion in the North Great Plain Region of Hungary

The paper discusses the effect of CAP payments on territorial cohesion in Hungary with special regard to the North Great Plain Region. It deals with the issue raised by HUBBARD et al. (2007) that the adoption of the CAP in CEE is unlikely to help those most in need in rural areas. Firstly the territorial distribution of the Single Area Payment Scheme (SAPS) is analysed at the NUTS III level. After that the database of the SAPS (first pillar payment of the CAP), the agri-environment payments and the investment in agriculture measures (second pillar funds of the CAP) are examined on a settlement basis and analysed following the spatial categories defined by the 2007-2013 Regional Operative Programme of the North Great Plain Region . The results at the NUTS III level underline the statement of DAX (2006), that Pillar 1 support is distributed in a way that tends to benefit richer regions with larger farms