The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) takes nearly 40% of the EU’s budget and affects 50% of the EU’s area. In 60 years of operation, it has never been systematically evaluated. We conducted an independent “fitness check”, examining 1) the CAP’s socioeconomic and environmental impacts; 2) whether it fulfils its objectives; and 3) whether it supports the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Our review followed the EC’s criteria for policy fitness-checks: effectiveness, efficiency, Coherence, Relevance, and EU Added Value. Using >450 publications, we found mixed effectiveness, very low efficiency, low internal coherence and relevance, and a mixed added value. We conclude that the CAP is not fit for purpose, and in its current design cannot support SDGs.
Guy Pe’er is a conservation biologist. He studied in Israel (PhD in Ben-Gurion University, 2004) and works for over 12 years in Germany – first at the UFZ, and now iDiv, Leipzig. Main scientific interests are a) understanding anthropogenic pressures on biodiversity (habitat loss, fragmentation, land-use- and climatic changes), and b) monitoring patterns and trends in biodiversity (e.g. through the Israeli Butterfly Monitoring Scheme). His current main work revolves around agriculture and agricultural policy, in an effort to address the sources of pressures on our environment.
Moderation: Mario Trouillier