A systematic analysis of the evolution of the content, tasks, methodological principles of formation and implementation tools of the EU CAP is carried out. The key principles of modernization of European agricultural policy for the 2023–2027 program period are determined, namely environmental friendliness, fairness, competitiveness, on the basis of which political reforms aimed at supporting the transition to sustainable agriculture and forestry are to be implemented. The ideological basis of the new stage in the EU CAP implementation is: recognition of the needs and expectations of Europeans as a key value of the policy-making process, ensuring the multifunctionality of agricultural production, conformity to the three dimensions of sustainability – social, economic, and environmental. The targeting of the new EU CAP model, as well as the design of the action system for its implementation, underscore the traditional exclusivity of farmers’ role as stakeholders in rural development, local resource management, ensuring food security and fulfilling the societal needs of member countries’ population. The complementary nature of the sources of the EU CAP financial resources formation, which in the future are to be directed to the support of farmers' incomes, market measures and stimulation of rural development, is established. The EU's declared commitment to the global Sustainable Development Goals in the area of agricultural policy modernization is being transformed into political actions aimed at protecting the natural environment and combating climate change through the introduction of agricultural production greening programs and the expansion of the relationship between direct payments and greening rules. In addition to the ecologically oriented ideology of the SDGs, the EU CAP for 2023–2027 professes and popularizes at the global level social values, in particular, gender equality, social interaction and partnership, development of human capital, etc.