EU needs to promote competitiveness

RURAL development is rooted in agriculture but it has to be open to other sectors to be sustainable, European Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel told a meeting of the Council of Agricultural Ministers.

She said the EU needs to continue promoting competitiveness to offer opportunities for those who have strengths in agricultural production. Policy should therefore favour investments instead of subsidies.

“In this perspective, we are considering the benefits that an increase of modulation can bring to rural community.

“What is good for the rural community is by definition good for the farmer. In other words our rural development should not necessarily go to the farmers,” she said.