L 101/122 Official Journal of the European Union 15.4.2011 COMMISSION DECISION of 14 April 2011 extending the transitional period concerning the acquisition of agricultural land in Lithuania (Text with EEA relevance) (2011/240/EV) THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty of Accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, Having regard to the Act of Accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, and in particular Chapter 4 of Annex IX thereto, Having regard to the request made by Lithuania, Whereas: (1) The 2003 Act of Accession provides that Lithuania may maintain in force, under the conditions laid down therein, for a 7-year period following the accession, expiring on 30 April 2011, prohibitions on the acquisition of agricultural land by natural and legal persons from other EU Member States who are neither established nor registered nor having a branch or an agency in Lithuania. This is a temporary exception to the free movement of capital as guaranteed by Articles 63 to 66 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. This transitional period may only be extended once for a period of up to 3 years. On 4 February 2011, Lithuania requested to extend the transitional period concerning the acquisition of agri- cultural land by 3 years. The main reason for the transitional period was the need to safeguard the socioeconomic conditions for agri- cultural activities following the introduction of the single market and the transition to the common agri- cultural policy in Lithuania. In particular, it aimed to meet concerns raised about the possible impact on the agricultural sector of liberalising the acquisition of agri- cultural land due to initial large differences in land prices and income compared with Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom (hereinafter the EU-15). The transitional period was also designed to ease the process of restitution and privatisation of agricultural land to farmers. In its Report of 16 July 2008 on the ©) Review of the transitional measures for the acquisition of agricultural real estate set out in the 2003 Accession Treaty (hereinafter the ‘Mid-Term Review of 2008, the Commission has already emphasised the importance of the completion of the abovementioned agricultural reform by the end of the foreseen transitional period ('). The land reform is still ongoing in Lithuania. According to data supplied by the Lithuanian authorities, there is a total of 429 000 ha of State land for which ownership rights need to be clarified. At the moment only 77 200 ha of State agricultural land have been privatised and for 351000 ha of agricultural land, which constitutes 11,42 % of the total agricultural land in Lithuania, the ownership rights still remain to be solved. In the view of the Lithuanian authorities, the lack of clarity on property rights together with the unfavourable structure of the farms inevitably hinders land transactions and consolidation of agricultural land. Land fragmen- tation, however, leads to lower competitiveness and less market-oriented farms. In this context, data relating to 2009 made available by the Lithuanian authorities show that, in that year, farms of a size of up to 5 ha amounted to 52,5 % of all farms. The aforementioned lower competitiveness of the Lithuanian agricultural sector compared to the agri- cultural sector in EU-15 is compounded by difficulties in access to financial resources and high interest rates applied to commercial credit lines for the acquisition of agricultural land (more than 10 % in 2009). Moreover, the recent global financial and economic crisis also had a negative impact on Lithuania’s economy and in particular on the selling prices of agricultural products. According to the data of the Lithuanian Department of Statistics under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, the total index of the purchase prices of the agricultural products in 2009, as compared to 2008, was 77,8. The fall was especially significant in the plant growing sector, where the total index of the purchase prices of these agricultural products in 2009 compared to 2008 was equal to 69,1. () COM(2008) 461 final, 16 July 2008.