Luis Planas: There will only be a future in the rural world if there is sustainable and profitable economic activity

The acting Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, has defended the need to ensure the sustainability and profitability of farms and activities carried out in rural areas, and to design cross-cutting policies that take into account the particularities of these territories for the sustainable and dynamic future of the European rural environment. "There will only be a future in the rural world if there is sustainable and profitable economic activity," he said.

Luis Planas today opened the High Level Forum on Rural Policy in Sigüenza (Guadalajara), together with the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Janusz Wojciechowski, and the Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, which is being held in Sigüenza (Guadalajara) until tomorrow, 29 September, as part of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union.

According to the minister, the challenges and opportunities facing rural areas cannot be addressed by a single policy or instrument, but rather existing support, financing and investment mechanisms must be strengthened and complemented by governance systems that generate the right impact.

In his speech, he stressed the importance of "maintaining the synergy between the European funds so that with their results the objective of the European Union treaties in relation to supporting rural areas can be fulfilled".

The forum also presented the conclusions of the study launched by the European Commission on "Taking stock of the contribution of the CAP strategic plans to the objectives of the long-term vision in the EU's rural areas", which shows that the new CAP contributes to the integrated development of rural areas.

This study explores the contribution of the CAP to four action blocks of the rural vision: strengthened, connected, resilient and prosperous rural areas.

To address these four blocks, the study suggests promoting innovation and digitalisation in agri-food production, improvements in transport and rail connections, as well as mitigating the risks posed by climate change and natural disasters.

Long-term vision for rural areas

Luis Planas emphasised some of the challenges to be faced in order to ensure the integrity of the future of rural areas, including digitalisation, gender equality, generational change and innovation and entrepreneurship.

In particular, he stressed the need for young people to have professional opportunities in order to ensure that the rural population is retained. He also highlighted the active role of women, which he believes is fundamental from the point of view of entrepreneurship.

According to him, these objectives "will only be real if we manage to achieve and give our citizens a decent future, which means sustainability, but also profitability of the farms and activities that take place" in the rural environment.

To this end, he stressed the support of the Government of Spain in the progress and implementation of the objectives set by the European Rural Pact, which highlights the cooperation between authorities and stakeholders at European, national, local and regional levels.

In the case of Spain, through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, as well as in the new CAP and the cohesion funds of the 2021-2027 operational programmes, funding has been earmarked to improve the socio-economic fabric of rural areas and tackle the problem of depopulation in these areas.

The results and recommendations of this high-level forum will contribute to enriching the political conclusions document on which the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU is working, which it hopes to have ready in November. Its aim is to set strategic pathways for the future of rural areas.

This debate and these policy conclusions will also feed into the European Commission's forthcoming progress report on the long-term vision for rural areas, to be presented in the first quarter of 2024.

The acting minister remarked that there will be powerful conclusions, in order to design a realistic and feasible plan that will strengthen the life and development of rural areas while continuing to support the EU agri-food sector.

It is clear to both the European Commission and the member states that securing the future of the rural environment and the agri-food sector is key to the EU economy, but also to ensuring the well-being of society.

At this high-level forum in Sigüenza, field visits have also been planned to see - through practical experience - how to invigorate the environment with the implementation of rural development projects in the province of Guadalajara.

Non official translation