Spring 2018 Juris Padegs Visiting Assistant in Research
Ardi Priks is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the Central European University (Budapest). His work is on the political economy of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy reform. He holds a master’s degrees in International Relations and European Studies from the Central European University and in Political Science from the University of Amsterdam. He finished his undergraduate education in Government and Politics at the University of Tartu (Estonia).
At Yale Mr. Priks continued work on his thesis on the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform, which is a significant aspect of the EU’s work. Expenditures through the CAP account for 40 percent of the EU budget and mainly go to farmers. However, CAP has been controversial as spending does not follow the principle of “public money for public goods” and because it is difficult to justify supporting – often wealthy – farmers’ incomes in a market economy in which entrepreneurs and, increasingly, workers in other sectors are also faced with the risk of gradual or rapid income decline. At Yale Mr. Priks also studied the European Union, its development, current institutions and operations, and projections for its future.
Prior to his arrival in New Haven, Mr. Priks spent much of 2017 working at the Estonian Permanent Representation to the European Union, advising on agricultural policy and aiding the Estonian diplomatic corps in Brussels in connection with the Estonian Presidency of Council of the European Union (July to December 2017).