The regional dimension of the CAP: 2007-2018

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one of the main pillars in constructing the European project. Since 1962, the CAP has evolved from its traditional role of supporting farmers’ livelihood and improving agricultural productivity to embrace balanced territorial development. In the process, it has been implemented across the EU territory in a fashion tailored to the regions’ needs. This report explores a rich data set on disaggregated CAP payments and regional characteristics to describe the regional dimension of the CAP. It does so by identifying and quantifying three relevant dimensions of the policy: the time dimension, associated with the reforms it has undergone in the period of analysis; the spatial dimension by framing its implementation in the rurality context of the EU territory and; the mix dimension by typifying the different implementation models of the policy. This characterization of the CAP and its rural context allows to investigate the regional patterns of its implementation. The study finds clear evidence that the more developed regions tend to benefit from policy mixes with a relatively low contribution from Pillar 2. On the other hand, developing and less developed regions tend to implement a mix of instruments that privilege rural development actions.