Explaining Successful Implementation of Eco-Schemes Under the CAP: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Member States

The 2023 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) introduced eco-schemes as a central instrument to incentivize environmentally sustainable farming practices across the European Union. Despite operating within a shared regulatory framework, eco-schemes exhibit substantial cross-national variation in design, uptake, and environmental ambition due to the decentralized implementation through National Strategic Plans. While evidence indicates that average environmental ambition and farmer participation remain modest, outcomes differ markedly across Member States. Yet systematic knowledge of the conditions that lead to higher levels of ambition and successful implementation remains limited. This paper addresses this gap by employing Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to identify configurations of political, administrative, and agricultural factors associated with successful eco-scheme implementation. Drawing on the literature on differentiated policy implementation (DPI) and EU agri-environmental governance (e.g., Bazzan et al. 2022, 2025; Ujj 2025), the analysis conceptualizes implementation success as a composite outcome capturing variation in scheme design, coverage, environmental ambition, and uptake at the national level, benchmarked against EU guidelines. The analytical framework examines three sets of conditions: political factors (influence of political parties and agricultural interest groups), administrative capacity (efficiency of payment agencies and Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems), and sectoral context (prevalence of pre-existing sustainable farming practices). Drawing on original coding of national Strategic Plans, expert interviews, and secondary data on farm structure, administrative capacity, and political composition, the analysis seeks to identify the specific causal configurations that enable higher environmental ambition in eco-scheme implementation. The paper contributes to theoretical debates on EU policy implementation and agri-environmental governance, while offering practical insights for policymakers seeking to strengthen the environmental effectiveness and cross-national coherence of the CAP’s green architecture in future programming periods. References Bazzan, G., Candel, J., Daugbjerg, C., & Pecurul, M. (2022). Identifying institutional configurations for policy outcomes: A comparison of ecosystem services delivery. Policy Studies Journal, 51(3), 501–527. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12476 Bazzan, G., Kuenzler, J., & Vogeler, C. S. (2025). Conditions Favoring the Reduction of Pesticides: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of EU Member States. Review of Policy Research, 42(6), 1480–1495. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/ropr.70021 Ujj, A., Nagyné Pércsi, K., Ramos-Diaz, F., Budimir-Marjanović, J., Horstink, L., Queiroga-Bento, R., Mukosha, C. E., Moudrý, J., Diána, K. G., & Jancsovszka, P. (2025). Agroecological Adoption Pathways in Europe: Drivers, Barriers, and Policy Implication Opportunities in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Portugal. Agriculture, 15(23), 2414. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15232414