A new study on funding for EU rural areas
- Rural Pact
- Rural Revitalisation Platform
- Stronger Rural Areas
- Connected rural areas
- Resilient rural areas
- Prosperous rural areas
A new study, procured by the European Commission, examines the contribution of the 2014-2022 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in addressing the needs and actions outlined under the EU rural vision. It further provides a preliminary analysis of the 2023-2027 CAP programmed measures.
The study reveals that the rural vision covers a wide range of needs and these are well targeted by CAP instruments, often thanks to bottom-up approaches and small-scale implementation, in which LEADER plays a key role. It suggests increased emphasis on CAP financing beyond farming and enhanced investments under other EU funds targeting rural areas in the past programming period: regional development (ERDF), cohesion (CF), social (ESF+), and maritime (EMFF) funds.
The analysis sets out a number of recommendations to streamline the funding available to rural areas at EU, national, regional and local levels, including:
- Improving the integration of CAP support and national or regional support schemes to increase effectiveness – holistic policy approaches improve the targeting of CAP and other EU funds in rural areas.
- Enhancing synergies between CAP support and other EU funds to plan and strengthen ERDF/CF and ESF support, especially to remote and constrained rural areas.
- Multi-funding approaches – such as CLLD/LEADER and Integrated Territorial Investments (ITIs) – can enhance the relevance and coherence of the support, even though they require greater coordination and may cause a greater administrative burden. This calls for expanded capacity building in the implementation of EU funding, especially for local actors.
- Strengthening the use of specific instruments or earmarking – such as territorially targeted funding and specific calls – is necessary to ensure that more deprived rural areas can access CAP funding.
- Continuing support to managing authorities and other stakeholders through activities such as those under the Rural Pact to improve implementation and knowledge sharing.
The study overviews these elements for the 2023-2027 period, building on the prior study on CAP strategic plans’ contribution to the objectives of the rural vision, published in September 2023.
Explore the full report, an executive summary, leaflet with main findings, and a press release on the launch of the report.