Brussels, 19/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - With the adoption of the last five Spanish rural development programmes (Balearic Islands, Extremadura, Galicia, Madrid and Navarra) on Wednesday 18 November, 88% of programmes for 2014-2020 have been approved by the European Commission.
All 19 Spanish programmes have been adopted providing total funding for Spain of €13.1 billion, including €8.3 billion from the EU budget. Through this funding, 20,000 young farmers will receive support to launch their businesses, 6% of agricultural holdings will get investment support to modernise and restructure, 7% of irrigated land will switch to more efficient systems, and more than 10,000 jobs will be created through LEADER local development strategies, the Commission says in a press release.
Taking stock of the overall situation, the Commission notes that 104 of the 118 rural development programmes (88%, covering 87.4% of the allocated budget) have now been approved. The last programmes are expected to be given approval in the coming weeks. The process has now been completed in 23 member states.
The 118 programmes, which will receive €100 billion in EU funding, will also generate more than €60 billion in further public funding (at national and regional levels) as well as large amounts in private funding. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)