Adoption of a further 24 Rural Development Programmes - Main contents

The European Commission has today approved a further 24 Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) aimed at improving the competitiveness of the EU farming sector and caring for the countryside and climate in the period until 2020.

The European Commission has today approved a further 24 Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) aimed at improving the competitiveness of the EU farming sector, caring for the countryside and climate, and strengthening the economic and social fabric of rural communities in the period until 2020. The programmes adopted today are expected to create over 40 000 jobs in rural areas and about 700 000 training places to foster innovation, knowledge transfer, more sustainable farming practices and stronger rural businesses. Funding worth 27 billion EUR from the EU budget, co-financed by further public funding at national/regional level and/or private funds, is made available.

Modernisation of farms, support to young farmers, sustainable land management and improved broadband infrastructures are among the priority actions of the adopted regional and national programmes. The Member States concerned are Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

The 24 RDPs approved today - with level of EU funding from EAFRD* (in million EURO)

* European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development