Mountain areas provide an unparalleled living environment for local communities. However, the natural constraints of these areas raise issues of mobility, access to healthcare, employment and village vitality. Euromontana is the voice of the 13% of European Union citizens who live in mountain areas and defends rural development policies that bring a tangible improvement in the quality of life.
Strengthening rural development policies
Rural areas represent an opportunity for Europe. For two decades, Euromontana has been advocating policies that improve the quality of life and make these regions better places to live and work. The post-2027 perspective offers an opportunity to rethink the budget and the coherence of policies that contribute to the development of rural areas. Euromontana represents mountain communities within the European Commission’s DG AGRI Civil Dialogue Group on the CAP and brings their voice into the EU CAP network.
We call for
- Strengthening the rural development budget in the post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy. Strong support for rural development is needed to make these areas attractive and dynamic places to live and work.
- Promoting a multi-fund approach and more synergies between the Common Agricultural Policy and Cohesion Policy.
- Developing rural-urban linkages to promote a functional approach to spatial planning and to support greater solidarity and mutual understanding between citizens.
- Supporting regions facing demographic challenges in the implementation of territorial attractiveness strategies.
Delivering the EU's Rural Vision
Euromontana has been calling for the European Union to adopt a Rural Agenda for many years and welcomed the adoption of the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas in 2021. The Vision has helped to address the challenges facing rural areas and provide concrete solutions. However, there is still a long way to go to make rural Europe resilient, prosperous, connected and stronger by 2040. Euromontana is committed to raising awareness of the Rural Vision among mountain stakeholders and represents mountain communities in the Rural Vision Coordination Group.
We call for
- Maintaining the efforts made since 2021 for the implementation of the EU Rural Vision. Euromontana welcomes the actions carried out and the tools developed and calls on the European Commission to further promote them to Member States and regions in order to encourage their uptake. Increased communication to remote areas is also necessary to ensure the success of the Rural Vision.
- Ensuring that the objectives of the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas are better taken into account in post-2027 programming, in particular in the next Cohesion Policy and the Common Agricultural Policy.
- Applying the rural proofing principle in the post-2027 programming, which provides a new opportunity to improve the coherence of European Union policies and to ensure that they meet the needs of rural areas.