Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

AddedSUGGESTIONS

Added1. Stresses the importance of supporting rural areas by valuing their diversity and potential, improving transport connectivity, high-speed broadband, the provision of services, economic diversification and job creation, and helping them respond to challenges such as rural desertification, population ageing, depopulation and rural abandonment, the decline of communities in general and insufficient healthcare and education opportunities;

Added2. Calls for the restoration, under the Common Provisions Regulations, of the Rural Development Found (currently EAFRD); such a fund should be managed regionally or with decisive regional participation, placing greater emphasis than before on structural policy measures in sparsely populated areas;

Added3. Highlights the valuable contribution to rural development made by the LEADER programme, which aims to engage local actors in the design and delivery of strategies for their rural areas;

Added4. Reaffirms the importance of urban-rural linkages and of the development of strategies based on functional areas, with the aim of preventing rural areas from shrinking;

Added5. Notes that the cohesion policy and regional environmental strategies offer opportunities to support farmers and forest managers’ sustainable investments in climate change adaptation, in particular the prevention of floods, drought and fires;

Added6. Stresses the need to set cohesion policy and CAP objectives that are consistent and comparable with each other; stresses that these processes should take into account the gender perspective;

Added7. Calls on the Commission to identify and implement the necessary flexibility measures to ensure the transfer of unspent EU funds, channelling them to different agricultural sectors;