Rural development projects in the agri-environment and energy-telecoms sectors in 14 member states will be receiving funding under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) ‘health check’ and the EU’s economic recovery plan, agreed in November 2008. The Rural Development Committee approved, on 24 November, a second wave of proposals from states and regions that presented changes to their rural development programmes. In each case, the EU funding comes on top of virtually matching funds from the national authorities or the private sector.

The decisions taken so far will put around €1.6 billion of fresh EU money into a rural development budget of more than €90 billion for the period 2007-2013.

This second wave concerns 36 rural development programmes (nine national and 27 regional). Biodiversity, water management, dairy restructuring and climate change account for 83% of the funds allocated in October and November (a quarter of the total). A 3.5% share goes to renewable energy and 1.2% to specific innovative cooperation projects.

Developing broadband infrastructure remains a priority and 13 new rural development programmes (five national and eight regional) focus on coverage in rural areas. The additional budget approved for broadband has now reached €149.6 million.

The new programmes approved are in Malta, Italy, Denmark, Portugal, Latvia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany and Luxembourg.

Most other rural development plans also have to be modified to make additional funds from the CAP ‘health check’ and the economic recovery plan available to all member states and regions in 2009. Therefore, the remaining modifications are expected to be approved in December at upcoming meetings of the Rural Development Committee, notes the Commission.

Details and financing amounts are available at www.europolitics.info > Search = 261463

Background

The measures agreed under the Common Agricultural Policy ‘health check’ enable member states/regions to obtain additional funding of 3.4 billion euro to be used between 2010 and 2013 in the framework of their rural development plans based on certain priorities (climate change, water management, renewable energy, biodiversity and dairy sector). The EU’s economic recovery plan adds a further one billion euro for broadband in rural areas.

The member states/regions report annually on spending under their rural development plans.