EU CAP Network's Steering Group - 4th Meeting

The 4th meeting of the EU CAP Network's Steering Group began with updates from the EU policy level, including the Vision for agriculture and food, the recently released 2nd simplification package, and other initiatives at European level. In the presentations and exchanges with participants, European Commission - DG AGRI representatives clarified various topics, including the CAP simplification efforts and stronger links between the CAP and other policy areas.

The EU CAP Network team provided a presentation on the organisational structures and activities of the National Networks (NNs), based on a recent survey (an overview is presented in this article). Updates from recent networking activities were also provided, in particular the work of the latest geographical and thematic NN cluster meetings, together with updates on the next NN meeting and the launch of the Agricultural and Rural Inspiration Awards - ARIA 2025 on the topic of Shaping Tomorrow Together.

The four EU CAP Network support units presented an outline of the EU CAP Network Annual Work Programme (AWP) 2025/2026 and activities related to CAP implementation, innovation and knowledge exchange, evaluation, and communication. The Steering Group was actively involved in validating the proposed AWP topics through an interactive discussion and in sharing information about activities that have been completed by their own organisations and could feed into the AWP topics proposed, to enrich the work of the Network.

The event report includes more details on the discussion and its outcomes. Regular updates are provided via the EU CAP Network's newsletter and publications.