News | 08 Feb 2024
Rural areas and rural policies in Europe – a comparative study
- Rural Pact
- Rural Revitalisation Platform
- Stronger Rural Areas
- Connected rural areas
- Resilient rural areas
- Prosperous rural areas
A recent publication produced by the Acadie Cooperative studies rural policies and funding across Germany, Spain, Poland, Ireland, Estonia, and provides a comparative analysis with France.
The study overviews public policies in support of rural areas in view of the countries’ sociological, political and geographic aspects, and examines the emergence, evolution and implementation of rural development strategies. It identifies four points of convergence across national policies:
- European local development policy is universal with similar implementation methods in the studied countries;
- The 2008 economic crisis and Covid are the two events that played a major role in redefining national policies for rural areas everywhere;
- The ecological transition does not (yet?) provide the impetus for redesigning rural policies;
- Rural policies are strongly affected by electoral issues, experiencing a ‘rural crisis’ where inhabitants and elected officials feel mistreated by national governments.
The study was commissioned by the National Agency for Territorial Cohesion (ANCT) and funded by the French National Rural Network. It is available in English and French.