26 Guidelines for rural development
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10893/05
COM(05) 304
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ADD 2
| Draft Council Decision on Community strategic guidelines for Rural Development (Programming period 2007-2013)
Commission Staff Working Document - Annex to the draft Council Decision on Community strategic guidelines for Rural Development: Update to Impact Assessment Report
Commission Staff Working Document - Annex to the draft Council Decision on Community strategic guidelines for Rural Development: Update to Impact Assessment Report (Annex 2: maps)
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| Legal base | Article 37EC; consultation; QMV
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| Document originated | 5 July 2005
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| Deposited in Parliament | 13 July 2005
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| Department | Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 8 August 2005
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| Previous Committee Report | None, but see footnote
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| To be discussed in Council | October 2005
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
26.1 In July 2004, the Commission brought forward two proposals[79]
arising from the mid-term review of the Agenda 2000 reforms of
the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), aimed principally at strengthening
the so-called rural development ("second") pillar. In
particular, the first of these involved replaced the existing
European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) by two
new funds —
the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and the European
Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), whilst the second
set out the detailed basis on which support would be provided
under the EAFRD. As our predecessors noted in their Report of
13 October 2004, the Commission had suggested that a more strategic
approach to rural development would be achieved by the adoption
of a Community strategy, which would then form the basis of various
national strategies linked to three main policy "axes"
—
increased competitiveness, enhancement of the environment, and
enhancing the quality of life and promoting diversification. In
addition, it was envisaged that each of these axes would contain
a so-called LEADER (local rural development strategies) axis,
funding local partnerships involving the public, private and voluntary
sectors in rural areas.
The current document
26.2 The second of these proposals has since been
adopted by the Council, and contains a provision that the Community
should adopt strategic guidelines in this area for the period
from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2013. Accordingly, the Commission
has now sought in this document to set out what those guidelines
might be. In doing so, it identifies six priorities for Member
States in formulating their national strategy plans, as well as
the areas under each guideline where it believes they should focus
resources. These are as follows:
Improving the competitiveness of the agricultural
and forestry sectors
The Commission states that the agriculture, forestry
and agri-food sectors have great potential to develop further
high quality and value added products meeting the diverse and
growing demand of consumers within Europe and world-wide. It suggests
that the resources within this axis should contribute to this
aim by focussing on knowledge transfer and innovation in the food
chain, and that in particular Member States should concentrate
support on facilitating access to research and development, improving
integration within the food chain, encouraging the updating and
diffusion of information technology, fostering dynamic entrepreneurship,
developing new outlets for products, improving the environmental
performance of farms and forestry, and restructuring the agriculture
sector.
Improving the environment and countryside
The Commission believes that the three priority areas
within this axis should be biodiversity and the preservation of
high nature value farming and forestry systems; water; and climate
change. It suggests that the relevant support should concentrate
on promoting environmental services and animal-friendly farming
practices, preserving the farming landscape, combating climate
change, consolidating the contribution of organic farming, encouraging
environmental/economic win-win initiatives, and promoting territorial
balance.
Improving the quality of life in rural areas and
encouraging diversification
The Commission considers that the range of measures
under this axis should be used to promote capacity building, skills
acquisition, and ensuring that rural areas remain attractive for
future generations, with particular consideration being given
to the needs of women and young people. This would involve concentrating
on raising economic activity and employment rates in the wider
rural economy, encouraging the entry of women into the labour
market, developing micro-business, training young people in traditional
rural skills, encouraging the take-up and diffusion of information
technology, developing the provision and innovative use of renewable
energy sources, encouraging the development of tourism, and upgrading
local infrastructure, particularly in the new Member States.
Building local capacity for employment and diversification
In so far as this as this area forms part as the
LEADER axis, it would not only contribute to the priorities established
under the other axes, but also aim to improve governance and mobilise
the development potential of rural areas. More particularly, this
would involve building local partnership capacity, promoting private-public
partnership, promoting cooperation and innovation, and improving
local governance.
Translating priorities into programmes
The Commission observes that the resources devoted
to rural development will depend on the specific situation, strengths
and weaknesses of each programme area, and that in many cases
there will be national or regional priorities for specific problems.
However, it suggests that Member States should ensure that synergies
between and within the axes are maximised and potential contradictions
avoided, having regard also to other Community strategies in areas
such as organic farming and renewable energy. It also points out
that technical assistance can be used to build up European and
national networks for rural development in order to facilitate
best practice, and the importance of information and publicity
to ensure early involvement of the different parties involved.
Complementarity between Community institutions
The Commission stresses the need to encourage the
synergy between structural, employment and rural development policies,
and for Member States to ensure coherence between the actions
to be funded by the ERDF, Cohesion Fund, ESF, EFF and EAFRD in
a given area or field of activity, with any decisions on the demarcation
between the different Funds being defined within the context of
national strategic plans.
The Government's view
26.3 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 8 August 2005,
the Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Rural Affairs, Landscape and
Biodiversity) at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs (Mr Jim Knight) says that the establishment of a Community
strategic framework document is designed to achieve effective
rural development spending with a strong sense of purpose, and
that these guidelines bring rural development policy into line
with the Community's priorities during the programming period
2007-2013,
both in those areas outlined within the Lisbon Agenda and in terms
of environmental policy, notably as regards water quality and
biodiversity.
Conclusion
26.4 Although these guidelines deal with an important
policy area, they are couched in fairly general terms, and moreover
cover ground similar to that contained in the proposal which our
predecessors considered in October 2004 (and which was subsequently
debated in European Standing Committee A). Consequently, whilst
we think it right to draw this document to the attention of the
House, we see no need to withhold clearance.
79 (25832) 11557/04 and (25841) 11495/04; see HC 42-xxxii
(2003-04), para 1 (13 October 2004). Back
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