Rural Pact Community Group helps shape the next EU youth strategy
For the second time, a Rural Pact Community Group has been involved in contributing to EU policy. The rural youth group has responded to the public consultation on the EU’s new youth strategy post 2027.
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An online meeting on 10 July 2026 brought together more than 30 members of the rural youth group to discuss and agree the key messages included in the contribution. The aim was to ensure that the next EU youth strategy reflects the needs and aspirations of young people across all of Europe's territories – including rural areas.
The public consultation on the new strategy closed on 16 July 2026. The Community Group’s contribution argues that rural youth should be recognised as a distinct priority, with its own goals and follow-up, building on the current strategy's youth goal #6 on moving rural youth forward.
Too often, the distinct realities faced by rural youth – from outmigration for education and work to gaps in youth infrastructure and services – are folded into a broad category of ‘young people with fewer opportunities’, rather than addressed as territorial issues in their own right.
The ‘right to stay’ as a cross-cutting principle
The contribution calls for the ‘right to stay’ to be embedded as a cross-cutting principle of the strategy, reflecting evidence that rural youth mobility is best understood as fluid – combining staying, leaving temporarily and returning – rather than a one-way departure from the countryside.
It also highlights the role of the social economy, rural entrepreneurship and intergenerational knowledge transfer in sustaining vibrant rural communities and calls for youth outcomes to be monitored at regional and local level, so that rural realities remain visible rather than being averaged out nationally.
This marks the second time that a Rural Pact Community Group has been involved in contributing to EU policy. The first occasion came in October 2025 when members of the social economy group took part in an online consultation, sharing insights for the mid-term review of the EU’s social economy action plan and the rural action plan update.
The Rural Pact Community Group on Youth is coordinated by Rural Youth Europe, the European Rural Youth Observatory and Meridaunia Local Action Group. Join the group to connect and exchange with peers and contribute to future discussions shaping the EU’s rural youth ecosystem.
Explore the latest Rural Pact resources on youth and discover insights on rural youth participation in policymaking.