Sustainable territorial and local development

Ahead of the 22 June plenary vote on the Albert Dess report relative to the common agricultural policy (CAP),* and thus to rural development policy, the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) calls on members of the European Parliament to provide a comprehensive.response to the challenges faced by rural areas.

 

Indeed, CEMR believes that the CAP and rural development policy can help tackle both current and future challenges, which include demographic change, climate change, globalisation and the need to secure EU food supply, all of which require both flexible action and a sustainable political framework.

 

Moreover, CEMR advocates against the report's priorities revolving around direct payments to farmers and farms as these do not allow for the broad and sustainable political framework needed to provide funding for economic and social measures in rural areas, which aim at creating jobs and economic growth.

 

According to CEMR , the future CAP should develop a more expansive rural development policy benefitting all, irrespective of their sector, so as to improve employment and find new ways for rural inhabitants to make a living. This is all the more important when considering that the need for increased efficiency leads to bigger farms, to a reduction of the number of farms and to a serious rise in unemployment in the farming sector.

 

* CEMR sent a letter to MEPs on 15 June 2011 with the above recommendations ahead of the vote in plenary, to be held on 22 June 2011, on the Albert Dess report called 'The CAP towards 2020: meeting the food, natural resources and territorial challenges of the future".

 

CEMR Policy Position on the Future of EU Rural Development Policy