Rural parliaments: key for the rural vision and Pact, Swedish Rural Parliament highlights
- Rural Pact
- Rural Revitalisation Platform
- Stronger Rural Areas
- Connected rural areas
- Resilient rural areas
- Prosperous rural areas
Rural parliaments are key platforms to encourage the implementation of the EU’s rural vision and Pact, Pascale Van Doren, team leader of the Rural Pact Support Office, emphasised at the biennial gathering of the Swedish Rural Parliament of 24-26 May 2024 in Nyköping. Important gatherings of local and national-level decision-makers, rural residents, NGOs, scientists, and businesses, rural parliaments are well-placed to discuss and address current and future challenges in rural areas.
Image by the Swedish Rural Parliament
The Swedish and other rural parliaments present important opportunities for synergies and complementarities with Rural Pact initiatives, such as the ongoing encouragement of national and regional governments to commit to support the implementation of the rural vision and Pact.
Bringing key rural stakeholders together in this format helps to translate the Rural Pact at national level - discover the key ingredients to achieve this in the first edition of the dedicated Policy Briefing. Additionally, the upcoming edition of the briefing (expected for publication in autumn 2024) will explore how the Rural Pact can be translated and add value at the local level. It will seek to identify key elements that need to be in place to enable rural communities to take action towards integrated rural development.
The Rural Pact Support Office actively encourages rural parliament participants to become members of its Community Platform in order to network and exchange with peers from across Europe and keep up-to-date with the latest Rural Pact news, events, good practices and activities.
The 2024 edition of the Swedish Rural Parliament gathered over 700 participants and included field trips showcasing inspiring examples of local development in the Sörmland region, as well as plenary and seminar discussions, and an exhibition.