Italy, Spain, Greece and France share many of the same crops, the same Common Agricultural Policy rules and the same climate pressures, but their citizens see the CAP very differently. In Special Eurobarometer 577, published by the European Commission on 22 September, 78% of Italians agree that the CAP ensures a fair standard of living for farmers, against 37% of the French. France also has the lowest share in the EU, 56%, agreeing that the CAP benefits all citizens and not only farmers, while Spain and Greece sit in between, each with concerns of its own.
The survey ran from 26 May to 24 June 2026, with 26,456 interviews across the EU, including 1,040 in Italy, 1,022 in Spain, 1,012 in France and 1,007 in Greece. Among the four countries, those where citizens ask most of the CAP are also those where they believe they get least from it.
In Italy fewer people choose farmers' income and reasonable prices as main objectives, but far more believe the CAP delivers them. In France and Greece the reverse holds. Comparing the two questions is indicative only, since one allows multiple answers. Source: European Commission, Special Eurobarometer 577.
Italy views the CAP positively on every objective
The survey asks whether the EU, through the CAP, is fulfilling its role on seven objectives. Italy gives the highest rating of the four countries on all seven, and is above the EU average on every one.
| The CAP is fulfilling its role in... | Italy | Spain | Greece | France | EU27 |
| Securing a stable food supply | 85% | 73% | 74% | 67% | 78% |
| Providing safe, high-quality food | 81% | 75% | 66% | 58% | 74% |
| Ensuring a sustainable way to produce food | 79% | 66% | 66% | 60% | 70% |
| Protecting the environment and tackling climate change | 81% | 68% | 63% | 52% | 67% |
| Ensuring a fair standard of living for farmers | 78% | 51% | 52% | 37% | 60% |
| Ensuring reasonable food prices | 77% | 48% | 35% | 48% | 60% |
| Creating growth and jobs in rural areas | 77% | 52% | 50% | 38% | 56% |
The positive picture comes with lower expectations. When respondents choose the main objectives of agricultural policy, Italians select farmers' standard of living at 48% and reasonable prices at 49%, below the EU average. Only 26% consider the EU's support to farmers too low, while 63% find it about right, and 44% want it to increase over the next decade, the lowest share of the four countries and below the EU's 48%. Italy also has the lowest awareness of the CAP in the EU, with only 61% having heard of the support it gives farmers.
Italians' positive view extends to their own countryside. Some 60% rate health services in rural areas as good, against 35% in Spain, 31% in France and 25% in Greece, and 53% rate job opportunities as good, against 25% to 31% in the other three countries.
France asks a great deal of the CAP and believes it gets little
France gives the lowest rating of the four countries on six of the seven objectives, and on the seventh, reasonable prices, it shares second-to-last place with Spain. Only 37% of the French agree that the CAP ensures a fair standard of living for farmers, 38% that it creates growth and jobs in rural areas and 52% that it protects the environment and climate.
French expectations, however, are among the highest. Farmers' standard of living is chosen as a main objective by 71% and reasonable prices by 68%, while on four of the seven objectives French shares rose by 10 to 15 points since 2024. Some 40% consider support to farmers too low and 57% want it to increase over the next decade. On farmers' standard of living, the gap between the 71% who ask for it and the 37% who believe they get it is the widest of the four countries.
Greece and Spain sit in between with different concerns
Greece gives the CAP the most positive overall assessment of the four, with 82% agreeing that it benefits all citizens, against 77% in Italy, 65% in Spain and 56% in France. On prices, however, the picture reverses. Some 77% of Greeks choose reasonable prices as a main objective and only 35% believe the CAP secures them, the widest gap in the EU between what citizens ask for and what they believe they get on that objective.
Spain gives moderate ratings almost everywhere, with safe and high-quality food at 75% and farmers' standard of living at 51%. It stands out on support. Some 43% of Spaniards consider the EU's support to farmers too low, the highest share of the four countries, and 68% want it to increase over the next decade, which together with 67% in Greece are the highest shares in the comparison.
Trade divides the four countries more than any other issue
The widest gap between the four countries concerns the EU's trade agreements. They are seen as positive for EU agriculture by 78% of Italians, 59% of Spaniards, 55% of Greeks and only 38% of the French, the lowest share in the EU. For themselves as consumers, they are seen as positive by 79% of Italians against 43% of the French, also the lowest share in the EU.
On one point, though, the four countries agree almost completely. Agricultural imports should only enter the EU if they comply with EU environmental, animal welfare and labour standards, a view held by 94% of Spaniards, 92% of Italians, 87% of the French and 86% of Greeks.
Climate change unites the four countries
On climate the differences narrow. Between 93% and 95% of citizens in all four countries agree that extreme weather can affect food supply, and between 91% and 92% favour payments to farmers for practices that benefit the climate and the environment. Extreme weather is seen as the biggest risk to food security more often in France and Greece, at 54% each, than in Spain, at 41%, and Italy, at 38%.
Italians are also the most willing to pay. Some 65% say they would pay 10% more for agricultural products with a smaller carbon footprint, against 54% in Spain, 52% in Greece and 51% in France, and 81% agree that farmers need to change the way they produce to fight climate change even if that makes agriculture less competitive.
These differences take on weight as the Agriculture Council of 26 and 27 October approaches, where the Presidency aims for a partial general approach on the CAP after 2027. The four countries will be negotiating over the same policy with citizens who judge it very differently.
Sources
- European Commission. (2026). Special Eurobarometer 577, Europeans, agriculture and the CAP. Report, data annexes and country factsheets for Greece, Spain, France and Italy, 22 September 2026.
- European Commission. (2026). Special Eurobarometer 577, infographic. DOI 10.2762/6925600.
