Rural communities join forces to counter urban regions 25-09-2006 A new association representing the interests of European rural communities
will be created. The idea is that Europe’s rural areas need to work together to
better compete with cities, urban areas and other territorial communities for EU
funding. The decision to create such an association was taken in principle
during a EU Committee of the Regions (CoR) conference on 14 September 2006.
Rural communities are sending out a clear message: they wish to participate
in development strategies and it is time that the EU realised the potential for
innovation which they represent. Creating an association of rural communities "
is not a question of generosity, it is responding to the EU's own interests. The
European institutions need to attribute more weight to rural communities if they
want Europe to grow in strength."; stated Gianni Pittella (PES, IT).
"We need Europe and European funding," stressed Jean-Louis Destans (PES, FR),
but rural territories find it difficult to convince the Commission of the
importance of their needs in comparison to the state and regions requesting
funding for large-scale projects. This sentiment is shared by the representative
of the European Commission (DG Agriculture). "In the current context of
budgetary pressure, there is a feeling that urban regions will also win and
that's exactly the problem," he warned.
Holding the same opinion as the participants, Savino Santarella (UEN, Italy)
said that rural communities "represent until now little exploited potential for
development". Santarella is author of a report on the subject, which is
scheduled to be debated in the CoR plenary session in October and probably
adopted in December.
Source: European Information Service LinksRead the Committee of the Regions press release back |
