Assessing CAP contribution to competitiveness
Understanding the drivers and components of agri-food competitiveness is essential for building a smarter, future-proof sector. This new Thematic Working Group brings together experts to clarify how competitiveness can be assessed.
In a context of rising production costs, climate challenges and global market pressure, understanding how CAP Strategic Plans support farm and agri-food competitiveness is essential for policymakers, Managing Authorities and evaluators.
The Thematic Working Group on ’Assessing CAP contribution to competitiveness’ aims to provide practical and policy-relevant guidance to support evidence-based evaluations across Member States.
Competitiveness is approached as a multidimensional concept, going beyond productivity to include market orientation, innovation, sustainability and long-term economic viability of the agri-food sector.
The Thematic Working Group experts will clarify the mechanisms through which competitiveness is enhanced, from productivity gains at the farm level to stronger market integration.
The expected outcome is methodological guidance for Member States for assessing the effectiveness, coherence and relevance of their CAP Strategic Plans regarding CAP Specific Objective 2 (increase competitiveness), focusing on the legally required key elements while also addressing additional dimensions of competitiveness. A clear distinction will be made between guidance on minimum requirements and optional elements.
By enabling Member States to identify where competitiveness issues arise and how to analyse the different components, the guidelines will be a useful tool for them in the next programming period.