Strategic Dialogue report calls for enhanced rural proofing and political support for EU rural areas
- Rural Pact
- Rural Revitalisation Platform
- Stronger Rural Areas
- Connected rural areas
- Resilient rural areas
- Prosperous rural areas
Invigorating rural areas and communities through rural proofing and increased political support across policy areas is among the key recommendations in the final report of the Strategic Dialogue on the future of EU agriculture, presented on 4 September 2024.
© European Union 2024
The report highlights the need to decisively tackle rural challenges in order to maintain the social, economic and environmental quality of life in rural areas, to reduce the urban-rural divide, and to make rural areas more attractive.
The Strategic Dialogue supports the range of proposals, plans and measures laid out in the Commission’s report on the EU rural vision: key achievements and ways forward. It expressly emphasises the need for rural proofing ahead of the next Multiannual Financial Framework and other legislative proposals.
Notably, the Strategic Dialogue recommends advancing the European Rural Pact to facilitate rural proofing and help to better address the specific needs of rural areas within a sustainable transition.
This lighthouse project could cover different policy areas, including agriculture, fisheries, forestry, energy, housing, economic development, social cohesion, and transport by putting political priority on rural areas. It could further help to improve the implementation of EU and national policies and funding instruments with less bureaucracy and better enforcement of opportunities.
The recommendations set out in the report will guide the work of the European Commission when shaping its ‘Vision for Agriculture and Food’, to be delivered in the first 100 days of Commission President von der Leyen's second mandate.