The Rural Pact is one of the main initiatives to achieve the goals of the
long-term vision for the EU’s rural areas
, adopted by the European Commission in June 2021. The
Rural Pact
is a framework for cooperation among authorities and stakeholders dealing
with rural territorial development at the European, national, regional and
local level. Its objectives are to amplify rural voices and bring them
higher up the political agenda, to structure and enable collaboration and
mutual learning, and to encourage and monitor voluntary commitments for
action.
The CoR has been among the first institutions to call for a Rural Pact
bringing together all rural stakeholders to boost the recovery and the twin
transitions in Europe's countryside. The Committee will contribute to the
Rural Pact works by monitoring the impact of new legislative proposals on
rural communities (rural proofing), by promoting the coordination on the
ground of Common Agricultural Policy, cohesion policy, Recovery and
Resilience Facility and other EU policies investments addressing rural
challenges, as well as by supporting the participation of its Members and
all relevant local and regional authorities to the Rural Pact platform and
initiatives.
"
In these difficult times, it is more important than ever that we all
work together to make sure that no region is left behind. The rural
world is looking at us and we cannot miss this chance. We need a
European rural agenda to improve urban-rural integration and revitalize
rural communities
," underlined
Ulrika Landergren
(SV/RE), Chair of the
CoR's Commission for Natural Resources
(NAT) and Member of Kungsbacka Municipal Council, who took the floor during
the high-level opening of the conference, along with the European
Commission's Vice-President Dubravka Šuica.
Following
the call
made by Vice-President Šuica, Commissioner Wojciechowski and Commissioner
Ferreira in December 2021 to express support for the Pact, over 1,000
representatives of public authorities, civil society organisations,
businesses and research, innovation and academic organisations joined the
Rural Pact community.
"
We need to bring Long Term Vision on Rural Areas and Rural Pact from
the sky to the earth, we need to change talking into action.
Therefore, it is crucial that we use holistic horizontal policy
approach, all the resources, i.e. all EU funds, and strong cooperation
at
all levels to fulfill this vision
," stated
Radim Sršeň
(CZ/EPP), second vice-chair of the NAT Commission and Mayor of the
Municipality of Dolní Studénky.
"
We need flexible solutions that ensure sustainable connectivity for
every city and village, including small towns in rural areas
. Transition from classic infrastructure and solutions to fully green
and zero carbon emissions must be made on a step-by-step basis most
especially in rural and remote areas with incumbent mobility poverty
," declared
Adrian Teban
(RO/EPP), Mayor of Cugir City.
The Rural Pact conference participants who took part in the participatory
workshops, one of which managed by the CoR, submitted over 40 commitments
building on those presented before the conference. These commitments
address specific issues arising in rural communities and areas.
The European Commission will facilitate the set up and work of the Rural
Pact and will help to monitor progress on the implementation of the
commitments made under its auspices. In addition, the Commission will take
further actions such as the launch a website by the end of this year to
have a single entry point to all rural vision activities, including the
rural revitalisation platform, and the launch of the EU rural observatory
to provide more detailed data on economic and demographic trends in the
EU’s rural areas to inform policy making for rural development.
Background:
Last January the CoR adopted its
opinion
on the Long-term vision for rural areas, which underlines that the
objectives of the strategy could only be achieved by everyone working
together – EU, national, regional and local authorities, stakeholders and
citizens alike. The opinion was drafted by the President of the Region of
Andalusia
Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla
(ES/EPP).
Press release
.
Over €60 billion is available for rural development under the Common
Agricultural Policy for the period 2023-2027. Under the new CAP, at least
35% of these funds will be allocated to measures to support local
development, climate, biodiversity, environment and animal welfare.
Over 25% of EU cohesion policy investments for the 2014-2020 period also
helped keep rural areas strong. Cohesion policy will continue to invest in
rural areas through the partnership agreements and operational programmes
of the new programming period. This will notably take place through the new
cross-cutting policy objective dedicated to sustainable, place-based
territorial and local development: “Policy Objective 5 – Europe closer to
citizens”.
On the basis of the agreement of the Rural Pact’s governance, concrete
actions will follow. Membership of the Rural Pact Community
is still open
and commitments can still be
submitted online.
Rural Pact conference webpage
– presentations available next week
Contact
:
Matteo Miglietta
Tel. +32 (0)470 895382
matteo.miglietta@cor.europa.eu