The national CAP Strategic Plan for Austria 2021 to 2027

National CAP Strategic Plan

In the upcoming subsidisation period 2021 to 2027 the national CAP Strategic Plan will replace the existing rural development programmes (in Austria: Austrian Rural Development Programme 2014-2020) as a subsidisation instrument for rural areas.

In this context there will be some innovations compared to the previous period (2014-2020).

In order to ensure that the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is strengthened and its coordination is improved in Europe both pillars of the CAP will be implemented jointly in a National Strategic Plan in future: They are the direct payments and the market measures from the First Pillar as well as the rural development measures from the Second Pillar of the CAP.

First Pillar measures will, as before, be financed at 100 % by EU funds from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF), while in the Second Pillar the principle of co-financing will continue to be applied: This means that second-pillar measures will be covered at about 50 % by EU money from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), and at about 50 % by national funds (federal and provincial).

In the current subsidisation period (2014-2020) EU funds to the amount of approximately 4.9 billion euros will be available for the First Pillar and of about 3.9 billion euros for the Second Pillar. The future financial structure of the two pillars is subject to the current negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) of the European Union. The future MFF 2021-2027 will define again the upper limits for the expenses of the EU in total and for the various fields of activity (for example Common Agricultural Policy) for a period of seven financial years.

Programming

Member States have to prepare their National Strategic Plans based on a SWOT analysis (analysis of strengths/ weaknesses/ opportunities/ risks) and an analysis of needs and they are approved by the European Commission (EC) for a period of seven years (2021 to 2027).

The EU wants to shift the focus more strongly on results-orientation and higher ambitions for the environment in the future. The new CAP post 2020 is to pursue the following specific objectives (according to Article 6 of the Proposal for a Regulation by the European Commission of 1 June 2018):

1. to support viable farm income and resilience across the Union to enhance food security;
2. to enhance market orientation and to increase competitiveness, including greater focus on research, technology and digitalisation;
3. to improve the farmers' position in the value chain;
4. to contribute to climate change mitigation and to the adaptation to climate change, as well as to sustainable energy;
5. to foster sustainable development and the efficient management of natural resources such as water, soil and air;
6. to contribute to the protection of biodiversity, to enhance ecosystem services and to preserve habitats and landscapes;
7. to increase the attractiveness for young farmers and to facilitate business development in rural areas;
8. to promote employment, growth, social inclusion and local development in rural areas, including bio-economy and sustainable forestry;
9. to improve the way of response of EU agriculture demands placed by the society on food and health, including safe, nutritious and sustainable food, food waste, as well as animal welfare.

Fostering knowledge, innovation and digitalisation in agriculture and in rural areas is a cross-cutting objective.

In connection with the preparation of the National Strategic Plan for Austria the continuity in the orientation of the programme is to be ensured, taking into account the specific objectives. These objectives include preserving vital rural areas and ensuring an area-wide, farm-based and environmentally responsible agricultural system.

The design of the National Strategic Plan is accompanied by a broad participation process, which was launched in Vienna at an opening event on 13 May 2019.

Whereas at national level the work on the Strategic Plan has already started, the proposals for Regulations on the CAP after 2020 as well as on the MFF are presently still being negotiated at European level.

The date of the submission of the National Strategic Plan for Austria for approval by the European Commission is thus on the one hand influenced strongly by the time of the existence of legally binding texts of Regulations and on the other hand on the results of the negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework.

Due to the bundling of the two pillars of the CAP in one common Strategic Plan, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) will no longer be part of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds) in future.

For more detailed information on the reform process, see the coressponding category.