The CAP Strategic Plan for Austria 2023 - 2027
On 13 September 2022 the European Commission approved the Austrian Strategic Plan which will implement the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in Austria in the coming years.
Together with Luxembourg, the "CAP Strategic Plan Austria 2023-2027" was confirmed by the European Commission on 13 September 2022, shortly after the strategic plans of Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Spain had already been adopted. This means that Austria is once again one of the first EU Member States to secure the necessary legal certainty for the national implementation of the Common European Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The approval was preceded by an intensive exchange between Austria and the Commission services on the concrete organisation of the reformed CAP and on how the funds available for this are should be used.
An important cornerstone of the Europe-wide reform is the merging of both pillars of the CAP - direct payments including sectoral measures and rural development - into an integrated, performance-based implementation model. This is, also against the backdrop of the integration of the European Green Deal, accompanied by increased environmental, animal welfare and climate ambitions the achievement of which is to be compensated by appropriate support measures as part of the national strategic plan.
A total of 9.16 billion euros of European and national funding is available for agriculture and rural areas for the years 2023 to 2027 including (stimulus program for agriculture - in German only), with both the Federal Government and the Federal Provinces contributing proportionately to national funding.
Via 98 different measures, the funds are to be used in a targeted manner for the following priorities:
- Strengthening the sustainable competitiveness and resilience of farms, including through direct income support, redistribution to smaller farms or investments
- Securing food supplies for the population
- Expanding the high level of resource and climate protection
- Strengthening agriculture that promotes biodiversity
- Further development of organic farming and promotion of sustainable forestry
- Management of mountain and less-favoured areas
- Promoting knowledge transfer, innovation and diversification
- Improving the vitality and quality of life in rural areas
- Expansion of infrastructure and services
- Further strengthening of the LEADER approach
From the outset, all relevant stakeholders in agriculture and rural development in Austria were actively involved in the work on the CAP Strategic Plan through an extensive participation process.