Institutional innovation in the European Rural Policy

Fehér, István

Keywords: EU, rural policy, networks for rural development, Contact Point

Some €90.8 billion of the RDP finances will come from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and another €70.1 billion has been ear-marked by national authorities for rural areas. Project beneficiaries are forecast to provide a further €64.8 billion of their own private money in the overall EU rural development budget. These financial commitments combine to represent quite a significant sum of funds and they reflect the crucial role that EU rural development policy plays in supporting the long term prosperity of rural areas in the 27 Member States.
Our EAFRD symbolises an evolution in strategic thinking for EU rural policy. Each of the 94 RDPs now has four closely integrated development priorities within a new funding framework that has been carefully designed to address the needs of individual Member States’ rural areas. In addition, the new strategic funding structure also ensures that all investments made within the four EAFRD ‘priority axes’ will also make important contributions to the EU’s collective goals concerning employment and growth, environmental sustainability and social inclusion.
The European Network for Rural Development (EN RD) became operational in October 2008. Its launch marks the start of a new era in EU rural development policy which builds on a long history of successful experiences and introduces an integrated set of economic, social and environmental benefits for all rural areas within the EU.
The EN RD’s new coordinated approach to rural development activity reflects EU policy directions agreed in Article 67 of Council Regulation (EC) N° 1698/2005 concerning the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). EN RD operations are outlined further in the Community Strategic Guidelines for Rural Development (2006/144/EC), which confirm the network’s role as a platform for exchange of best practice and expertise between stakeholders on policy design, management and implementation of rural development action.
Many of the EN RD’s approaches to implementing these development activities have their origins in methodologies that were applied effectively during previous Leader networking systems. These approaches proved themselves to be both productive and popular with rural areas throughout the EU and the new EN RD aims to emulate such achievements.
A new framework of strategic support services for rural areas has been introduced by the European Commission. This pioneering network covers all aspects of rural life in the 27 Member States and is already proving its value by helping to enhance the effectiveness of EU rural development policy.
Added-value principles feature prominently in the network’s day to day operations, which involve a broad spectrum of actions that are tailored to meet the individual requirements of different rural areas and rural stakeholders. Examples of added-value EN RD actions include helping EAFRD managers to simplify procedures for beneficiaries, developing synergies with other European funds available in rural areas and organising various expert working groups that examine common rural problems in order to identify common development solutions.

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