Fischler calls for focus on rural development
“Rural development concerns us all, whether farmer, rural community or city-dweller.
“Without a living countryside, farming has no future, and without farmers the rural areas do not have one either,” he said.
Dr Fischler told a European conference on rural development at Salzburg in his native Austria that it is not enough to focus rural development entirely on agriculture.
“A meaningful rural development policy should of course improve the competitiveness of agriculture, in particular in the new member states.
“But it has also become clear in our discussions that we need diversification, modernisation, investment and jobs outside the farming sector if we want to have living and sustainable rural communities.”
Dr Fischler said there is also complete agreement that the effectiveness and transparency of rural development policy must be improved. The policy must become substantially simpler and more user-friendly.
“I personally intend to put my weight behind a single ‘countryside fund’, which will finance the whole of rural development policy at European Union level,” he said.
However, IFA rural development committee chairman Michael Bergin warned that the EC is likely to create a single rural development fund in reforms, which will come into place in three years time.
