This article brings geographical insights to understanding the Europeanization of agri-food politics in new European Union member states. Most literature on agri-food policy and law in the European Union has conceptualized policy making and implementation as an institutional process involving multiple levels of governance. In this perspective, Europeanization is understood as a process through which stakeholders formulate, negotiate, and implement legal principles and procedures across various institutions at different levels of governance. By employing the conceptual tools developed in geographical research, we contribute a spatial and historical dimension to these studies. Our analysis shows how the politics of scale and sociospatial positionality can help explain idiosyncratic shifts in food policies in new European Union member states that could not be attributed solely to institutional processes. To develop these arguments, our empirical analysis focuses on shifting agri-food regulatory frameworks for Alternative Food Networks in Lithuania. In particular, we analyze how and why Lithuanian authorities began changing and simplifying food safety and veterinary requirements for the production, processing, and distribution of small quantities of food products sold directly to consumers through Alternative Food Networks in the local market. We show how Lithuania’s positionality in regional and global markets contributed to the growth of the direct sales sector. Our analysis also reveals the agency of local producers and consumers in creating conditions for policy change. This analysis suggests that Europeanization of food politics in the new European Union member states is best understood as a spatial reordering of the region and its historical relationships.

中文翻译：

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超越欧洲化：立陶宛替代食品网络的规模和位置政治

本文为理解新欧盟成员国的农业食品政治欧洲化带来了地理见解。大多数关于欧盟农业食品政策和法律的文献都将政策制定和实施概念化为涉及多层次治理的制度过程。从这个角度来看，欧洲化被理解为利益相关者在不同治理级别的各种机构之间制定、协商和实施法律原则和程序的过程。通过使用地理研究中开发的概念工具，我们为这些研究贡献了空间和历史维度。我们的分析表明，规模政治和社会空间位置如何有助于解释新欧盟成员国食品政策的特殊变化，这些变化不能仅仅归因于制度过程。为了提出这些论点，我们的实证分析侧重于立陶宛替代食品网络的农业食品监管框架的转变。我们特别分析了立陶宛当局如何以及为何开始改变和简化通过当地市场的替代食品网络直接向消费​​者销售的少量食品的生产、加工和分销的食品安全和兽医要求。我们展示了立陶宛在区域和全球市场中的地位如何促进了直销部门的增长。我们的分析还揭示了当地生产者和消费者在为政策变化创造条件方面的作用。这一分析表明，最好将新欧盟成员国的食品政治欧洲化理解为该地区及其历史关系的空间重新排序。