I am delighted to open this Rural Pact conference alongside my colleague, the Executive Vice-President Fitto.
I am glad to see that since its launch in 2021, the Pact has grown to a vibrant community of over 3500 members from across sectors and governance levels, working towards sustainable rural futures.
As emphasized by the Executive Vice-President Fitto, we need to ensure that rural areas remain attractive places to live.
There are no rural areas without viable agriculture and no agriculture without thriving rural areas.
Rural areas mean so much for us: they are homes for one fourth of the EU population – and for many more they are places we want to go each time we have a chance – to relax, to connect with nature, spend time with our families. But not only that – rural means also business:
Rural areas host cutting-edge technology businesses, with promising proportions of rural start-ups in new sectors such as robotics and semi-conductors, alongside food, transportation, energy. They are also at the forefront of the bioeconomy - our new economy based on circular bio-based solutions.
Rural means energy: you might have heard me talking about energy-farmers: 78% of our untapped renewable energy potential is in rural areas. If we invest in rural energy, in smart ways that benefit local communities and safeguard our land, we can green our energy mix.
Rural means security, rural means independence: you might have heard me also speaking about defence-farmers: keeping rural and remote areas vibrant matters for our security, especially at our Eastern borders. I witnessed it myself when I visited earlier this year some of the rural border areas in the Baltic States.
And this links me to the very essential what we need in rural areas to make this all happen: our rural communities need services, medical care, schools, kindergartens. They need infrastructure, and connectivity in order to encourage people to stay, to move to rural areas, to work in rural areas. These are also key to retain young people, and attract new ones - as you know, one my priorities is making generational renewal in agriculture possible. Here, we see clearly how vibrant rural communities and generational renewal go hand in hand.
While rural connectivity keeps improving, the urban-rural gap in broadband speed has actually worsened between 2020 and 2024. Funds and resources are available, but need to hit better the target. This is of utmost priority, as with good connections we can attract also new “part-time” rural habitants and tele-workers to the rural areas.
The Vision for Agriculture and Food I presented at the beginning of this year commits to several rural actions.
To update the EU Rural Action Plan
To further develop the Rural Pact and rural proofing
To work on functional rural areas, to reinforce approaches such as LEADER and smart villages.
We are working on all these actions. This conference is the key moment for you to also share your views on the way forward.
The Common agricultural policy plays a key role, with instruments specially targeted to rural needs. I think here for example of small-scale investment in basic services and infrastructures, support to rural businesses including start-ups and support to local development strategies under the LEADER approach.
Altogether, Member States have programmed EUR 25 billion of EU and national funds to support rural areas through 2023-2027 CAP strategic plans. And here I am not counting the support going to farming.
The new MFF proposes to bring all support under the National and Regional Partnership Plans.
This will open the door for better leverage of resources, synergies and complementarities when programming and directing spending as the Executive Vice-President Fitto also highlighted.
Let me explain why I think our proposals for 2028-2034 offer a fertile ground for better rural policies and effect on the ground.
First, and this is important: we retain all of our current CAP instruments.
I have read reports after our proposals that the next CAP will be the €300 billion ring-fenced money. This is not correct. This ring-fenced amount is a minimum amount, dedicated to supporting farmers income. But we all know in this room that the CAP is larger than this. It is exactly beyond this income support where the synergies lie. Where we can create win-win situations that serve both rural areas, regional economies and our overall cohesion.
And our current toolbox remains complete in the next CAP! This means that the Member States will all have to continue supporting investments, rural start-ups and businesses, innovation but also cooperation tools and of course LEADER.
These community-led local development projects have proven their efficiency. We know this and this is precisely why we proposed to keep it mandatory for all Member States to programme LEADER.
And for that, and all of their other rural needs, they will tap into the National and Regional Partnership Plan. This is how synergies happen.
And I can assure you that the rural dimension will feature strongly in the National Plans prepared by countries. Because, and this is my second point, you will find among the objectives of National Plans the reduction of territorial disparities and the improvement of living conditions in rural areas. Member States will have to address these two points.
Third, The MFF proposals emphasize the need for an integrated approach to rural areas, including to improve access to services. This means that the National plans will need to demonstrate how this will be ensured.
Our study on funding for EU rural areas published last year showed that countries where such integrated approaches exist, address rural needs more comprehensively and effectively.
Fourth, Member States must engage rural authorities and stakeholders in the design of the National Plans. This implies that needs and voices of rural communities will have to be considered for the planning of how public funds are spent. And the flexibilities provided in the framework of the future MFF allow the Member States to best target the support to the actual needs of their territories.
And finally, the rules on performance for EU spending foresee that operations supporting rural areas are clearly identified, so we can better monitor the funds and their impact on the ground.
To conclude, it is clear that the National and Regional Partnership Plans present opportunities for broader, more integrated support for rural areas, incorporating regional and social policies beyond the CAP.
And not only that –under the new Competitiveness Fund and the Horizon research funds we have a policy window- and significant funding - for “Health, biotech, agriculture and bioeconomy” – here our rural communities, farmers and foresters can be in the driving seat in many of the innovative projects.
With all of this in place, I am confident that we have all necessary tools. I can assure you that the Commission will engage with Member States to ensure that their plans go in the right direction for rural areas.
Also, we are here today to listen, to learn, to hear your view on how to make our rural areas to prosper also in the future.
And finally, on the Rural Pact: the Pact has produced many ideas, inspiring Member States and regions. Through this conference, and in upcoming months, activities organised under the Pact will help rural voices be heard in the policy debate.
I warmly encourage you to fully engage today and to voice your needs and share your recommendations.
I wish you very fruitful debates and look forward to the outcomes of your discussions. Thank you very much for your attention.
