Good Practice Workshop: Assessing simplification of the CAP for beneficiaries and administrations

The EU CAP Network, supported by the European Evaluation Helpdesk for the CAP, organised the eighth Good Practice Workshop on ‘Assessing simplification of the CAP for beneficiaries and administrations’ in Budapest, Hungary, on 7-8 November 2024, kindly hosted by the Hungarian National CAP Network, with the support of the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture and the Institute of Agricultural Economics.

Background 

The CAP has undergone various modifications over consecutive programming periods, where simplification has been an essential part of these modifications, with the aim of tailoring and improving implementation. Simplification is also a component of the assessment of efficiency. The EU CAP Network’s guidelines ‘Use of Factors of Success in Evaluation’ defines it as the minimisation of costs that are not strictly necessary for the achievement of the objectives of the CAP, and the adoption of measures that reduce the administrative burden for the administration and beneficiaries. Simplification also implies that additional administrative costs without added value for achieving CAP objectives are avoided.  

Simplification is subject to specific attention in the 2023-2027 CAP Strategic Plans (CSP). According to Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, Member States shall take appropriate measures to reduce the administrative burden and ensure simplification in the implementation of the CAP when pursuing the CAP Specific Objectives. When designing their CSP, Member States were expected to explain how their interventions and elements common to several interventions contributed to simplification for final beneficiaries, and a reduction of the administrative burden. 

Against this background, the assessment of simplification is an important issue from an evaluation perspective. The ex-ante evaluations of CSPs have already analysed simplification, and this synthesis confirmed that all 28 CSPs support simplification, with the majority having targeted the reduction of the administrative burden. In addition, simplification is enshrined in the CAP Implementing Regulation as a component of efficiency, where Member States are expected to assess simplification both for beneficiaries and the administration, with special focus on administrative costs and the use of digital tools and satellites. Indeed, Member States have already completed and started implementing their evaluation plans, including simplification as one of the topics to be assessed.  

Furthermore, an EU-level study on simplification and the administrative burden for farmers under the CAP is underway, with the objective of supporting the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI) in understanding and assessing the burden on EU farmers arising from the 2023-2027 CAP, and drawing concrete examples for further simplification. Initial findings from this study have been discussed with workshop participants. 

Objectives

The aim of the eighth Good Practice Workshop has been to reflect and learn from participants' experiences, insights, and ideas in relation to the assessment of simplification of the CAP for both beneficiaries and the administration, with a view to preparing Member States for future evaluations of simplification of the CAP.