42 Amendments of Eric ANDRIEU related to 2021/2254(INI)
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 14
Citation 14
— having regard to its resolution of 3 October 2018 on addressing the specific needs of rural, mountainous and remote areas, entitled ‘EU Agenda for Rural, Mountainous and Remote Areas’10, _________________ 10 OJ C 11, 13.01.2020, p. 15.
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 15 a (new)
Citation 15 a (new)
— having regard to the Commission communication of 20 May 2020 entitled ‘A Farm to Fork Strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system’ (COM/2020/381 final),
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 15 b (new)
Citation 15 b (new)
— having regard to the Commission communication of 12 November 2021 entitled ‘Contingency plan for ensuring food supply and food security in times of crisis’ (COM(2021)689),
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas, according to one of the definitions of rural territories, rural areas represent around 83 % of the total European territory and are home to around 137 million people (30 % of the European population); whereas rural areas, in particular remote and less developed rural regions, face specific unresolved challengesthose which are remote from large urban centres, mountainous areas, islands and outermost regions and those which are least populated or where the population is in decline, face specific challenges which too often go unresolved;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A (new)
Recital A (new)
Aa. whereas rural territories suffer overall from a lack of recognition of their unique development, resilience and innovation potential, which affects their attractiveness for entrepreneurs, investors and young households;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas rural territories are the main areas of production of food and energy, in particular renewable energy, for which security of supply has become an important challenge;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas, in order to achieve sustainable development, rural territories must receive financial transfers to offset the specialisation and agglomeration effects enjoyed by centres in relation to peripheries;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Highlights the diversity of rural areas across the EU both geographically and socially, while recalling that the capacity of rural communities to organise themselves around territorial local development strategies varies greatly; recalls that rural areas close to urban centres, in remote areas or mountainous zones, and in outermost regions face different challenges requiring, within the same general framework, targeted solutions;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses that policies and actions at EU level combined with national and, regional onesand local ones, in accordance with the solidarity principle, are key to securing the attractiveness, prosperity and well-being of rural European citizens, as well as tackling the challenges they facefaced by rural communities in most cases, namely population decline and ageing, fewer quality job opportunities, a lack ofdeteriorating access to high- quality services of general interest, climate and environmental pressures, lower connectivity and limited access to innovation;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Highlights the central role rural areaterritories can play in addressing socieal, economic and environmental challenges, by providing ecosystem services to mitigate climate change and environmental deterioration, ensuring sustainable food production, preservingoviding recoverable renewable energies for the territorial energy mix, preserving the material and immaterial rural heritage, and contributing to a just, green and digital transition;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Considers that the excessive spread of large predators (wolves, bears) is affecting the viability of certain rural territories, and calls for measures regulating the populations of these animals to be strengthened;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Draws attention to the growing discontent among rural populations who feel their needs are insufficiently considered, particularly with regard to services of general interest and infrastructure, in political decision- making, which creates fertile ground for civic and political disengagement; notes that, on the other hand, European citizens retain a high level of trust in regional and local authorities and stresses the importance of relying on these levels of governance in order to revive support for the European project in rural areas;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses that rural areaterritories are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and crisis, such as the COVID pandemic and the war in Ukraine but are also capable of offering new opportunities in response to such crisis; encourages rural territories to strengthen their resilience in terms of food supply in order to respond to the challenges raised in the Commission communication entitled ‘Contingency plan for ensuring food supply and food security in times of crisis’;
Amendment 147 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Welcomes the Commission’s communication on a long-term vision for the EU’s rural areas; agrees with its general aims and considers it a most valuable opportunity for reinforcing action on the present and future of rural areas; calls on the forthcoming Presidencies of the Council of the European Union to fully pursue this ambition for rural territories;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Takes note of the proposal for a Rural Action Plan, which swill need to organise ownership by stakehould evolve into a dynamic tool for future actioners at the various levels involved and plan the formulation of integrated sustainable development strategies while leaving sufficient scope for manoeuvre for local actors; calls on the Commission and the Member States to give the highest priority to its implementation, setting clear targets for delivery so as to attain the goal of stronger, more connected, resilient and prosperous rural areas by 2040;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Agrees on the need for a common, EU-wide, functional definition of rural areaterritories, and urges the Commission to quickly develop and operationalise such a definition, ensuring that it is not limited to a geographical assessment or based on the existing administrative division, but takes into account the existing organisation of rural communities around a sustainable and integrated development strategy;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Supports the development of a Rural Pact, which should be a political and strategic document specifying the place of rural territories in the ambition of building the European Union’s strategic autonomy in a world undergoing profound transformation; considers that the Rural Pact should set out precisely the role assigned to the various European funds, in particular the new funds resulting from the responses to the health crisis; considers that it needs concrete objectives, deliverables, multi-level governance and monitoring systems, and institutional responsibilities; stresses the importance of involving regional and local authorities and the various stakeholders in the governance of the Rural Pact in order to ensure its success;
Amendment 178 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Stresses the importance of implementing a rural proofing mechanism for EU initiatives so as to assess their potential impact on rural areas; points out that the effectiveness of rural proofing depends on the strategic policy agenda to which it relates, as has been demonstrated in Member States that have tried it; urges the Member States to promote the development and implementation of effective mechanisms for rural proofing at national level and calls on the Commission to assist them; stresses the importance of involving regional and local authorities in the definition and implementation of the rural proofing mechanism, as well as in its governance at European and national level;
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Insists that rural citizens must benefit, like any other citizen, from equitable conditions for achieving their professional, social and personal goals, with a particular focus on more vulnerable groups, thereby effectively upholding the European Pillar of Social Rights; stresses that targeted interventions fostering effective generational renewal are essential and fairness in access to services of general interest; stresses that interventions targeting young people, including those fostering effective generational renewal in the agricultural sector, are essential; considers that population ageing necessitates the creation of new care structures that can play a role in rural territories; points out that rural areas have always been host territories for migrants, and that migrants can help revitalise the least dynamic areas;
Amendment 208 #
12a. Stresses the importance for rural communities of having access to quality public health services and of benefiting from tailored transport infrastructure and banking and communication services in order to live in dignity;
Amendment 219 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Underlines that the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy can open up new opportunities in rural areas and a new dynamic for a more sustainable and resilient future, while ensuring a just and inclusive transition; provided the budget resources are consistent with the objectives;
Amendment 233 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Underlines the centralimportant role agriculture plays in rural areas; insists that sustainable agriculture, including agroecology and organic farming, providing fair income to farmers, is crucial for the vitality of these territories; regrets the fact that since the 1996 Cork Conference rural development policy has been presented ultimately as a replacement for a sectoral agricultural policy that is destined to disappear, which has fuelled hostility among some agricultural stakeholders towards rural development policy due to competition for access to EAFRD funding; considers, on the contrary, that the next framework for rural development policies should be defined in conjunction with a renewed agricultural policy, reflecting both its productive function in terms of food and its role in the environmental transition of agriculture;
Amendment 252 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Recognises the importance of all forms of support for collective action in agriculture (e.g. geographical indications, producer organisations or new bio- districts) as important rural development tools, given their effectiveness in generating economic activity, improving the quality and fair distribution of value within food chains and ultimately contributing to the maintenance or even development of populations in rural areas;
Amendment 271 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Stresses that diversification of and innovation in the rural economy based on local potential, including social and organisational diversification, based on local potential, relational proximities and balanced public-private partnerships, are crucial to drawing opportunities from the digital and green transition; calls on the Member States to put in place measures to support the fair transition and diversification of the rural economy; calls for an enhancement of the role of rural tourism, and in particular wine tourism, in strategies for diversifying the rural economy;
Amendment 290 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Regrets that the work of rural women is still not properly recognised; calls on the Commission and the Member States to take action to design and implement measures to fight gender gapincome gaps; encourages the dissemination of legal innovations being implemented in some Member States aimed at giving women farmers the same social rights as their spouses;
Amendment 315 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Highlights the central role of rural areas in the transition to a low-carbon economy, while acknowledging that the primary purpose of agricultural land is food production; stresses that initiatives in rural areas, such as renewable energy infrastructure, must contribute effectively to the economic and social vitality of such areas;
Amendment 322 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Stresses that the transition from fossil energy to renewables goes hand in hand with the design of more decentralised energy production systems; calls on the Commission and the Member States to create favourable conditions for the emergence of rural energy communities, as they provide rural territories with an opportunity to address energy poverty and resilience to crises while benefiting the local economy and increasing the acceptability of renewables;
Amendment 343 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Stresses that the digital transition brings about new opportunities for rural areas, which are only accessible if there isas shown by the development of teleworking since the first lockdown, but that these positive developments, which are already reflected in population growth in some territories, remain conditional on adequate, stable and accessible broadband coverage; warns of the risks of the widening of the rural digital gap as a result of the lack of 5G coverage, and calls on Member States to mobilise all available instruments to prevent it, including by adopting coercive measures for broadband providers that do not contribute their share to ensuring the necessary territorial fairness;
Amendment 375 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Recalls the importance of working in harmony with regional and local authorities in order to benefit from their pre-emptive rights to purchase buildings and agricultural and forest land, so as to combat the desertification of small towns in rural areas affected by the proliferation of empty properties, and also to promote access to agricultural land for farmers wishing to develop short supply chains;
Amendment 385 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 4
Subheading 4
4. First steps for defining a vision and strategy for rural areasEuropean Rural Agenda
Amendment 386 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Regrets the failure to include the ‘Long-term Vision for Rural Areas of the European Union’ in a more formal white paper with organising authority and the lack of reference to a European Rural Agenda, to which reference is, however, made in the resolution of 3 October 2018; regrets the late publication of the Commission’s communication, which has precluded its full integration into the current programming framework; regrets the limited focus on the principles of integrated territorial development and community-led local development (CLLD); calls on the Commission to ensure that the rural, integrated and Community-led territorial dimension is properly addressed by all Member States and to assess its implementation and impact in the common agricultural policy strategic plans, the partnership agreements for the cohesion policy programmes and the Recovery and Resilience Plans;
Amendment 400 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Urges Member States to address the specific challenges of rural areaterritories during the implementation of the current multiannual financial framework programmes and to provide the investments needed for social inclusion and job creation, in order to foster competitiveness and enable a just digital and green transition;
Amendment 413 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Regrets the persistent obstacles to the multi-fund approachat obstacles to the multi- fund approach persist despite its added value; considers that the difficulties have been compounded by the reduction in EAFRD cofunding and the departure of this fund from the common strategic framework, with the exception of LEADER, which hamper the deployment of comprehensive integrative approaches in rural areas; calls on the Commission to improve synergies and coordination between EU funding instruments, and with national instruments, and to pursue simplification, in particular for smaller projects, which are key for rural areas; calls, at the same time, on the Commission to explore alternatives to the multi-fund approach in order to respond as effectively as possible to the needs of rural territories, given their human resources and in line with the desire to target and simplify;
Amendment 429 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Highlights the Commission study’s conclusions on LEADER’s effectiveness in delivering solutions for sustainable rural development; calls on Member States to support LEADER/the widespread use of Community- Led Local Development (CLLD), therebyincluding LEADER, so as to develop and implement integrated rural development strategies to facilitatinge and also promotinge multi-fund approaches; considers that the meaningful earmarking of assistance for CLLD under all relevant funds at EU level, including the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), would contribute to stronger integrated strategies and more sustainable territorial development, and also facilitate innovation and skills acquisition; strongly insists that financing for territorial engineering should be made possible for rural project owners;
Amendment 443 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Stresses that empowering rural communities, which requires capacity building and financing of territorial engineering to set up projects, particularly in the most remote and less populated areas, will promote greater social cohesion and a stronger sense of belonging;
Amendment 449 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Calls for effective application of the subsidiarity principle, which should be reflected in more community-based policy design, involving local actors, authorities and civil society, and insists therefore that they must play an active role from decision-making to policy implementation and evaluation;
Amendment 462 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Notes that while EU legislation envisages multilevel governance approaches and partnerships, there is resistance to their application in a meaningful way in some Member States, as has been observed with the EAFRD and also the Next Generation EU funds; calls on Member States to support these approaches by allocating responsibility at the appropriate local or regional level and ensuring political ownership and strong coordination of policies and investments across all levels of governance; calls on the Commission to maintain a direct and structured dialogue with the various levels of governance involved in the management of European policies with a strong impact on rural areas;
Amendment 473 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Takes note of the Commission’s intention to take stock by mid-2023 of the actions taken by the EU and Member States for rural areas and to produce a public report on that basis in early 2024; considers that this evaluation could pave the way to a fully integrated Rural Action PlanEuropean Rural Agenda after the mid-term revision, which would be fully integrated in the 2028-2034 programming period;
Amendment 481 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Recalls that the future of rural areas is of paramount importance for Europe’s food security and food autonomsovereignty, for a sustainable energy mix, taking into account the geopolitical context, and for welcoming people in search of a better quality of life or even safety, as the recent COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have clearly demonstrated;
Amendment 486 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 a (new)
Paragraph 30 a (new)
30a. Recalls the importance of cross- border cooperation, particularly in the context of the Interreg programme, as an area for experimentation and the sharing of good practices between regions of different Member States;
Amendment 490 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Calls for the long-term vision to be developed into aon a European Rural Agenda to be included in a Community Territorial Agenda, where strategic dialogue on cooperation with cities could take place; expects this true rural strategy at EU level to be fully integrated into future programming periods and calls on all Member States to develop rural strategies at national and regional level;
Amendment 510 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Highlights the importance of the strategic cooperation links between Africa and Europe, building on the progress made in the Africa-Europe rural transformation action agenda, which sets out initiatives designed to sustainably strengthen Africa’s agri-food sector and rural territories;