Brussels, 13/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission approved a further 18 rural development programmes (RDPs) on Friday 13 February. RDPs are 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 between 2014 and 2020.
These 18 programmes will receive funding of €14.3 billion from the EU budget (14.7% of the total rural development budget for the 2014-2020 period) and will be co-financed by further public funding at national/regional level and/or private funds.
The number of programmes that have received the green light now totals 27 (out of 118 programmes), meaning that programmes worth more than €35 billion (roughly 36% of the budget) have now been approved.
“Today's programmes offer funding for a range of dynamic projects, varying from modernisation projects for agriculture in the Baltic Republics, and encouraging more young farmers to enter the sector in Slovenia, to specific schemes to improve water quality in the Netherlands or protecting 2.5 million hectares of farmland in England through environmental land management schemes”, said Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Phil Hogan.
In total, 118 programmes are provided across the 28 Member States, backed by €99.6 billion of EU funding over the period 2014-2020 through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)
The 18 programmes approved are: - Belgium (Flanders), €383.8 million; - Estonia, €823.3 million; - Finland (Aland), €20.7 million; - France (Mayotte), €60.0 million; - France (National Rural Network Programme), €23.0 million; - Germany (Bavaria), €1.516 billion; - Germany (Hesse), €318.9 million; - Germany (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), €936.8 million; - Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia), €618.3 million; - Latvia, 1.0756 billion; - Lithuania, €1.6131 billion; - Netherlands, €607.3 million; - Portugal (Azores), €295.3 million; - Portugal (Madeira), €179.4 million; - Spain (National Framework, an important pre-requisite for moving towards approvals of the various Spanish regional programmes and one national programme; - Slovakia, €1.5453 billion; - Slovenia, €837.8 million; - United Kingdom (England), €3.4707 billion. (Lionel Changeur)