Assessment of the progress in implementing the evaluation plans of 2014-2022 RDPs. Chapter 2 of the AIRs submitted in 2025

The report 'Assessment of the progress in implementing the evaluation plans of 2014-2022 RDPs. Chapter 2 of the AIRs submitted in 2025', highlights a notable increase in evaluation activities (+24% compared to 2024), particularly in the preparation and follow-up phases, reflecting Member States’ readiness for ex-post evaluations. Data management activities also rose, with a strong focus on planning and reporting, indicating enhanced efforts to support policy evaluation.

Despite this progress, the number of completed evaluations decreased by 34%, and the number of reported evaluation findings decreased slightly. The majority of the evaluation findings were derived from assessing RDP results, which accounted for 37.6% of the total. More than 60% of evaluation findings were positive, demonstrating improvements in economic, environmental, and social outcomes across CAP objectives, including competitiveness of agriculture, sustainable resource management and climate action, balanced territorial development, and knowledge transfer and innovation.

The majority of evaluation findings extracted concern the effectiveness criteria, while the other evaluation criteria were less covered due to a combination of institutional focus on target achievement, alignment with evaluation questions, familiarity with measuring effectiveness and practical limitations in data, time and resources.

Regarding dissemination activities, Member States also reported several figures. Communication activities reached nearly 800 000 stakeholders, mainly through publications and websites, although overall outreach declined. Follow-up actions focused on improving RDP delivery and preparing for the 2023-2027 CAP Strategic Plans.

Finally, the report concludes with recommendations for better reporting, emphasising clarity, relevance and structured approaches to future evaluations.