EU Rural development policy needs more money, says WWF

In a new study on the EU's rural development policy, released on 2 December, conservation organisation WWF and the UK-based Land Use Policy Group (LUPG) demand that rural development spending become the core of a new Agricultural Policy in an enlarged Europe. The study "Europe’s Rural Futures – the Nature of Rural Development" is the first major pan-European study of the planning and implementation of the EU Rural Development Regulation 1257/1999 (RDR) and the SAPARD pre-accession instrument.

Both organisations call on Heads of State during the Copenhagen Summit on 12-13 December to substantially increase the funds available to rural development both in the current and future Member States. To start with, they urge the European Council to agree to proceed with shifting money, in the current Member States, from market measures to rural development as included in the Commission's Mid-Term Review (MTR) communication. "The Member States will have a difficult time convincing the Candidate Countries of their commitment to a more rural and environmental CAP if they can't agree to strengthen rural development at home first" warned Elizabeth Guttenstein, WWF Head of European Agriculture and Rural Development.

On 12-13 December, the Copenhagen European Summit will decide on the financial terms of the agricultural package for the candidate countries.