A legal and economic view of the objectives and aims of the Common Agricultural Policy 2023–2027: An attempt to assess interdependence

Abstract

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a partnership between society and agriculture, ensuring a stable supply of good-quality food and guaranteeing support for farmers’ incomes while protecting the environment and the dynamic development of Europe’s rural areas. The changing reality, as well as European society’s own expectations regarding  healthy and safe food at affordable prices, or the emergence of an environmental conscience, are the reasons for reforming European agricultural policy. The author aims to determine whether the directions of the CAP 2023–2027 and the adopted measures and legal solutions serve the achievement of both primary and specific objectives. The paper analyses the issue of the reformed CAP 2023–2027. The methodology is based on the presentation of the historical outline of the CAP, and the analysis of the EU documents, economic materials and legal literature, as well as reference to the practice of direct payments. The problem of the differences in the priorities of the European society in terms of expectations regarding the directions of CAP or the contradictions in the solutions adopted for direct payments, limiting their availability, is addressed, alongside other issues. In the light of the findings of this article, it is necessary for the EU legislator to redirect CAP 2023–2027, with the primary aim of ensuring the EU’s self-sufficiency and food security. At present, income support for farmers must therefore be prioritized in order for other objectives and orientations of the CAP to be achieved, especially the environmental ones.