12.05.2017

This meeting, which took place on May 4 in Brussels, was organized by the European Committee of the Regions and the International Rurality-Environment-Development Association .

During theconference , the context in which the European Rural Agenda should be developed was described. Rural areas (they defend this definition as more appropriate than rural zones) are part of the solution to many of Europe's current and future challenges. Mobilizing their inhabitants and recognizing their role as active partners in the European project is a key step, especially as an analysis of the actions to be taken regarding the future of the Common Agricultural Policy after 2020 is underway.

The EU Rural Agenda aims to enable stakeholders in rural areas to be directly involved in the development of national and EU rural policies that affect them, such as employment, generational change, and sustainable development. Participants noted that the Cork 2.0 Declaration was the first step in recognizing the capacity of rural areas to address current and future social, economic, cultural, and environmental challenges. The next step would be for the Cork 2.0 objectives to become part of a European Rural Agenda.

The European Rural Agenda should act as a counterweight to the already established European Urban Agenda . During the conference, the rural-urban imbalance and the constant strengthening of urban policies to the detriment of rural ones were highlighted. This is because states believe that economic dynamics essentially rely on the competitiveness of cities and urban environments, not on rural territories. The objective would be to achieve a balance between these two poles, urban and rural, through cooperation and partnership between the Rural Agenda and the Urban Agenda. In this way, cooperative relationships can emerge between rural and urban environments.

The European Rural Agenda must take into account the diversity of rural areas in order to harness their potential to meet Europe 's current and future challenges and thus achieve the goal of territorial cohesion . Another challenge will be to apply the three fundamental principles to all European policies :

1. Rural-urban balance : including equality between men and women as a basic principle in all European policies.

2. Equal rights for all citizens , whether they live in towns and cities or in rural areas (in line with the Charter of Fundamental Rights).

3. Equity in the distribution of resources among all social actors and among all territories , so that the exchange capacities and skills of each can be adequately exploited, compensating for the inherent specificities of rural territories.