Rural development

Rural development policy is the second pillar of the European Union’s (EU) common agricultural policy. It seeks to help the EU’s rural areas address the economic, environmental and social challenges that they face. It has three long-term objectives:

to foster the competitiveness of agriculture and forestry;
to manage natural resources sustainably and implement climate action measures;
to achieve balanced territorial development in rural areas, including creating and maintaining jobs.

EU funding available for rural development is available from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). The EAFRD budget for the 2021-2027 period amounts to €95.5 billion, which includes an injection of €8.1 billion from the next generation EU recovery instrument to help address the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The policy is implemented by means of 7-year rural development programmes drawn up in partnership with the EU. These focus on the following six priorities:

knowledge transfer and innovation;
competitiveness of all types of farming and sustainable management of forests;
promoting food chain organisation;
restoring, preserving and enhancing ecosystems;
promoting resource efficiency and the transition to a low-carbon economy;
promoting social inclusion, poverty reduction and economic development in rural areas.

The principles, rules and standards for the implementation of the EAFRD, as for the other European Structural and Investment Funds, are laid down in Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013.

The rules for rural development spending during 2021-2022 are laid out in the common agricultural policy transitional regulation, adopted on 23 December 2020. The regulation largely extends the existing rules (initially in place for the 2014-2020 period), with some additional elements to ensure a smooth transition to the future CAP legislation, set to begin in 2023.