The Special Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (SAPARD) and the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance in Rural Development (IPARD) are two pre – accession instruments designed by European Union for the preparation of agricultural sector and rural areas of candidate countries. The aim of this study is the estimation of the socio-economic impact of the two pre-accession programmes for agriculture and rural development on the target regions of Slovenia and Macedonia, which have implemented the respective programmes within a specific period of time. The study has been carried out by using an ex-post temporal evaluation analysis of SAPARD and IPARD impact on processing capacity. The confrontation of both programmes is based on comparing the situation with/without programme on the target regions of Slovenia and Macedonia. The results revealed that both programmes in respective countries had a positive impact on improving the processing capacity within the dairy sector.
