Fitness Check of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) takes almost 40% of the EU’s budget, and has operated for nearly 60 years under the same official objectives. Is it still ‘fit for purpose’? The most state-of-the-art approach to evaluate this, according to the EU, is to conduct a “Fitness Check” (as already done, e.g., for the Birds and Habitats Directive).

Toward the next CAP reform that will shape the CAP beyond 2020, more than 200 organizations have called the European Commission (EC) to conduct such a Fitness Check for the CAP. While the EC conducted a public consultation (https://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/future-cap_en) and is currently engaged in an Impact Assessment (i.e. an evaluation of future scenarios for the CAP), it was decided not to conduct a Fitness Check of the CAP.

This project therefore attempts to fill a gap in policy evaluation, by conducting an independent, evidence-based Fitness Check. Firstly, we asked whether the CAP fulfills its own objectives. Secondly, following the EC commitment to mainstream its policies with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), we asked whether the CAP can deliver on the most relevant SDGs.