The European Commission approved on 26 May a further 24 Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) aimed at improving the competitiveness of the EU farming sector, caring for the countryside and climate, and strengthening the economic and social fabric of rural communities in the period until 2020.
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The programmes adopted are expected to create over 40,000 jobs in rural areas and about 700 000 training places to foster innovation, knowledge transfer, more sustainable farming practices and stronger rural businesses.
Funding worth 27 billion EUR from the EU budget, co-financed by further public funding at national/regional level and/or private funds, is made available.
Modernisation of farms, support to young farmers, sustainable land management and improved broadband infrastructures are among the priority actions of the adopted regional and national programmes. The Member States concerned are Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
Background
Support for Rural Development is the so-called 2nd Pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy, providing Member States with an envelope of EU funding to manage nationally or regionally under multi-annual, co-funded programmes. In total, 118 programmes are foreseen in all 28 Member States, backed by 99.6 billion of EU funding over the period 2014-2020 through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), with these measures co-funded by additional national, regional and private finance. The new adoptions bring the number of approved RDPs up to 51 meaning that programmes worth more than 62 billion EUR (roughly 62,4 % of the budget) have now been approved. The new Rural Development Regulation for the 2014-2020 period addresses six economic, environmental and social priorities, and programmes contain clear targets setting out what is to be achieved. Moreover, in order to coordinate actions better and maximise synergies with the other European Structural & Investment Funds (ESIF), a Partnership Agreement has been agreed with each Member State highlighting its broad strategy for EU-funded structural investment.
The 24 RDPs approved today with level of EU funding from EAFRD* (in million EURO)
Programme | EU funding in million EURO | As share of Total EAFRD |
2 366.7 | 2.38% | |
2 026.2 | 2.04% | |
2 305.7 | 2.32% | |
709.6 | 0.71% | |
1 050.7 | 1.06% | |
1 119.9 | 1.13% | |
299.8 | 0.30% | |
33.6 | 0.03% | |
419.5 | 0.42% | |
679.7 | 0.68% | |
2 190.6 | 2.20% | |
59.7 | 0.06% | |
158.0 | 0.16% | |
513.0 | 0.52% | |
414.7 | 0.42% | |
510.7 | 0.51% | |
8 128.0 | 8.18% | |
237.8 | 0.24% | |
467.0 | 0.47% | |
70.0 | 0.07% | |
87.1 | 0.09% | |
1 763.6 | 1.78% | |
844.7 | 0.85% | |
655.8 | 0.66% |
* European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development
