Evaluation of Common Agricultural Policy delivery on its objectives

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the EU's main policy framework designed to support farmers, enhance agricultural productivity, and ensure a stable, sustainable food supply within the EU, while aiming at maintaining biodiversity.

The current CAP (2023-2027) requires each Member State to draw up a National strategic plan (NSP) setting out how it will direct the CAP’s funding instruments to address its national needs and capacities and achieve tangible results on EU-level objectives. This delivery model provides for greater flexibility and subsidiarity in assigning responsibilities to the Member States, but with higher ambitions in the impact of the CAP towards the achievement of the European Green Deal, by establishing a greener and fairer CAP but also one that fosters greater competitiveness.

The interim evaluation of CAP is intended to assess the progress of the CAP during the 2023-2027 programming period and provide an early assessment of the effectiveness of the CAP National Strategic Plans. The results of this EESC Evaluation Report, which provides organised civil society's input to an ongoing evaluation of the European Commission, are intended to inform future CAP policy design by providing evidence on the effectiveness of different CAP instruments.

With a view to complementing the EC's evaluation, it is proposed to focus the EESC evaluation specifically on:

• the social aspects of the CAP and

• whether they have been delivered as planned.