State support of agriculture in the EU: establishment, trends, legal problems

The article examines the legal issues of providing state support to agriculture in the European Union. State support for agriculture is not a frozen, conservative category - its evolution is subject to the main trends in the development of the legal system, the emergence of new threats and the birth of new social needs. Another reform of the European common agricultural policy (CAP) and its agricultural protection component for the period 2021-2027 calls for an urgent need to study the proposed changes in the context of the general evolution of EU legislation on state support for farmers. Understanding the main vectors of such evolution is an important methodological basis for the qualitative development of the concept of reforming domestic agricultural protection legislation. The traced evolution of the agricultural protection legislation of the European Union demonstrates its passing through several successive stages: 1) the stage of emergence and formation (60s-80s of the 20th century); 2) the beginning of a major reorientation of EU agricultural policy (1992-1998); 3) the stage of the emergence of the second pillar of SAP (1999-2002); 4) the stage of the final transition to the format of direct payments (2003-2012); 5) stage of successive greening (2013-2020); 6) modern stage (2021-2027 years). The current stage of development of EU agricultural protection legislation is characterized by such features as: transition from mandatory measures to mandatory results; preserving the methodology of the two pillars of SAP; strengthening of environmental priorities; preservation of social landmarks. An analysis of the retrospective and current state of legislative support for agriculture in the EU reveals three main trends in the development of such legislation: decentralization, greening, and preservation of small farming. The study of modern agro-protection legislation of Ukraine through the prism of our conclusions will allow us to determine the ratio of methodological bases of state support for farmers in the EU and Ukraine. This is an important scientific and practical foundation for the development of a qualitative concept of reforming domestic legislation. That is why the study of these questions will be the subject of our further scientific investigations.