EU reviews Cork’s design for life
The Cork 2.0 Declaration — From Reflection to Action will be the title of the Town Hall style meeting. Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Phil Hogan said representatives from the five EU institutions have been invited to attend.
The aim is to have an open exchange of views about what policymakers can do to turn the aspirations of the Cork Declaration into reality on the ground.
Mr Hogan told a pre-Christmas conference in Brussels he is convinced the declaration produced by the extraordinary gathering in Cork will form the foundation stone for future work together.
“When the idea to revisit Cork first emerged, some people were not quite convinced about the need for a new declaration of this kind. After all, the 1996 declaration still has many valid points.
"But it was also clear that the original declaration was a product of its time when for instance climate change and connectivity did not feature prominently,” he said.
Mr Hogan said the original Cork Declaration served its purpose in helping establish Rural Development as an EU policy in its own right.
“This was a major achievement but discussions have moved on since then and it was time to take a fresh look at our policies, especially in the view of multiple challenges facing agriculture and rural communities,” he said.
Mr Hogan said broadly speaking, the goal must be to empower rural areas to meet the wide range of challenges and opportunities that face them in the 21st century: economic, social and environmental.
Many of the points included in the original Declaration have successfully been translated into the EU legislative framework through several programming periods.
However, it should not be forgotten that rural areas have significantly changed since 1996 — 13 new member states have joined the EU, giving a new dynamic to discussions on rural areas.
“Therefore, we invited some 340 CAP stakeholders to Cork in September with the objective of rebooting our mandate and renewing our vision through a new declaration.
“It was also an opportunity for the rural stakeholder community to find common ground and develop a stronger voice. With its participatory design the conference created a space for ideas to float freely between different people and different interests.
“We had two days of intense debates where everyone gave a piece of his or her mind in a spirit of participation, commitment, and co-operation,” he said.
Under the header ‘A Better Life in Rural Areas’, the Cork 2.0 declaration gives agriculture a prominent place.
However, it also emphasises the role of other rural businesses in delivering prosperity for hundreds of millions of rural citizens. It states boldly and clearly that more and broader action is needed, including better links to other policies.
Mr Hogan said the declaration gives clear recommendations to policy makers and it charts a course for a better performing suite of rural and agricultural policies which are both accountable and fit for purpose.
It also calls for “rural proofing” which means that other policies should be monitored to assess their impact on the wellbeing of rural areas.
“One of the things I appreciate most about the declaration is the positive and forward-looking tone it espouses, whereby rural areas insist that they are part of the solution, not the problem,” he said.
Pledging to champion the Cork 2 Declaration at the highest levels, Mr Hogan said it is imperative that it forms one of the cornerstones of the commission’s plan for “modernising and simplifying” the Common Agricultural Policy.
The 10-point plan likewise provides an important orientation for the upcoming debates on the future of rural and agricultural policies post-2020.
One of the strong points made in the Cork Declaration is the value of bottom-up and locally-led approaches such as LEADER and the agricultural European Innovation Partnership (EIP-AGRI).
The declaration contains strong language on the need for effective risk management tools, fair and transparent contractual relations in the supply chain and investments that foster a competitive and diversified agriculture.
“It has a strong call to step up efforts on knowledge and innovation. If we want to tackle the issue of farm resilience in the long run, farmers have to become part of the knowledge economy. And they have to have access to state of the art connectivity, information and communications technology) tools, discussion groups, and networks.
“The declaration contains three points related to green agriculture. It calls for policies to incentivise the delivery of environmental public goods. Farmers should get paid for preserving EU natural and cultural heritage,” he said.
Mr Hogan said climate action is one of the new elements compared to the 1996 declaration. It calls for support for effective climate mitigation and adaptation strategies that go beyond carbon-based solutions.
Climate change is not only seen as a challenge in the declaration, it also emphasises the business opportunities it creates in rural areas. The potential offered by digitisation and connectivity is given particular attention. However, only 25% of rural areas currently have access to ultra-fast broadband.
The declaration calls for policies to ensure that to this digital divide is overcome and to help rural areas reap the benefits of the digital economy.
It gives particularly strong recommendations on the kind of policies needed to meet 21st century challenges and opportunities. And it calls for a result-oriented CAP where expenditure is targeted towards well- defined economic, social and environmental policies.
“At the end of the Cork conference, I called for a “rural coalition of the willing” to come together, make its voice heard, and ensure this declaration results in real action,” he said.
