Rural affairs secretary Margaret Beckett has discussed planned reforms of Europe's Common Agricultural Policy with countries seeking to become EU members.

The Berlin meetings with agriculture ministers from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Estonia, Slovakia and Slovenia, focused on explaining the UK's desire to see the overhaul of the much-criticised CAP and how this might affect the candidate countries for EU accession.

And in Poland on Monday Beckett met her Polish counterpart, Jaroslaw Kalinowski, and environment minister Stanislaw Zelichowski to explain the need for reform and discuss environmental issues.

"I have held very interesting and useful discussions with a number of countries who are going to become important members of the European Union," said Beckett. "I told them that the UK is strongly supportive of their entry into the European Union and the benefits which will flow to both sides economically and politically."

"But I also explained that in parallel with these discussions there a number of important issues already under discussion about the future direction of the Common Agricultural Policy."

She said the UK wanted to see existing direct payments replaced by support for rural areas - for example through funding environmental protection and wider rural development.

"I understand that there will be anxieties in the candidate countries about what this might mean for them. However the UK believes that such changes - made on a transitional basis - would also have important advantages for them," Beckett explained.

"I am convinced that it is only by introducing reforms to the CAP which will lead to a more market-orientated and sustainable system that the long term interests of farmers across Europe can be properly served."

Reform of the EU's agricultural support scheme remains a key issue ahead of the expansion to Eastern Europe. Concerns about the number of smaller and less efficient farms, particularly in Poland, have brought into focus the need for reforms to the payment system to prevent costs rising drastically after expansion.