---
id: ch7-cap
type: spine
title: "The CAP 2023–2027: the largest rural budget line, and LEADER's 7 %"
readingTime: 2
standalone: true
core: false
teaser: "EUR 387 billion goes to the CAP for 2021–2027. LEADER, the instrument most local actors know, got about 7 % of rural development funding in the previous period."
voice: thinker
parent: null
diagram: fig-cap-money
recallQ: "How is CAP funding for 2021–2027 split, and why does D3.1 warn regions not to plan around LEADER alone?"
recallA: "Of EUR 387 billion, EUR 291 billion comes from the EAGF and EUR 96 billion from the EAFRD. LEADER got only about 7 % of planned rural development funding in 2014–2020, so a regional action plan has to tap the other 93 % and combine several funds."
highlights:
  - "EUR 387 billion for 2021–2027: EUR 291 billion EAGF plus EUR 96 billion EAFRD"
  - "Ten CAP objectives, including generational renewal and vibrant rural areas"
  - "LEADER: about 7 % of planned rural development funding in 2014–2020 (European Court of Auditors)"
status: accepted
concept: eu-rural-policy
lang: en
lens: generic
depth: standard
formalism: none
visuality: balanced
lengthBand: standard
genre: explainer
state: edited
carriers: prose|diagram
---

At the end of 2021 the EU reached a political agreement on a new **Common Agricultural Policy for 2023–2027**. It is built around **ten objectives**: a fair income for farmers, competitiveness, the farmer's position in the food chain, climate action, environmental care, landscapes and biodiversity, generational renewal, vibrant rural areas, food and health quality, and knowledge and innovation.

**The money.** The CAP has **EUR 387 billion** for 2021–2027, from two funds: **EUR 291 billion** from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and **EUR 96 billion** from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). A transitional regulation kept most of the 2014–2020 rules in place for 2021 and 2022 and added stronger green ambitions. The EAFRD has six priority areas, from knowledge transfer to social inclusion and economic development in rural areas.

**What the pilots draw on.** Two PoliRural+ policy briefs name the same three CAP channels. In Slovakia the CAP "channels eco-schemes, LEADER, and AKIS" into regenerative and organic farming and advisory services. Latvia's CAP Strategic Plan 2023–2027 sends LEADER, AKIS and eco-scheme support to Vidzeme's smart specialisation sectors.

**The LEADER trap.** D3.1 warns that many people in local government know LEADER and stop there. A European Court of Auditors report found that planned LEADER funding in 2014–2020 was **about 7 %** of all rural development funding. "Nothing of any lasting significance is possible without talking about the other 93 %," D3.1 concludes. LEADER funds pilots, but scaling up what works needs **multi-funding**: CAP, ERDF, RRF, the Cohesion Fund and others, plus national match funding and loans from the EIB.

LEADER still matters as a delivery channel. At a meeting on the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture, the European LEADER Association for Rural Development (ELARD) said that LEADER local development strategies are generally the only tool CAP strategic plans use to address the many needs of rural areas, and that the EU needs a rural strategy for rural areas as a whole, not only for agriculture.

**Sources:**
- D2.2 Rural-urban linkages and opportunities post COVID-19, Annex H §3 Rural development policy in the EU, §3.5.1 ELARD statement. [PDF](https://www.poliruralplus.eu/docs/140/Attachment_0_57.pdf)
- D3.1 RAP Methodology, "Policy Gap Analysis" and "Creating an Inventory of Financing Options". [PDF](https://www.poliruralplus.eu/docs/161/D3.1__RAP_Methodology_v1.pdf)
- D7.3 Policy Brief No. 1, Annex 2 (Slovakia) and Annex 8 (Vidzeme), Strategic Alignment. [PDF](https://www.poliruralplus.eu/docs/349/D7.3_Policy_Brief_No.1.pdf)