Brussels, 11/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - All 118 rural development programmes have been adopted, the European Commission announced on Friday 11 December.
The last programme to be approved is that of Greece. Over the period 2014-2020, it provides for total public funds of €5.9 billion (€4.7 billion in credits from the EU budget and €1.2 billion in national co-funding).
With the adoption of all of the rural development programmes, the EU is making a total of €99.6 billion available to farmers from 2014 to 2020, plus 60.6 billion in national or regional co-funding (public and private funds).
Phil Hogan, the European commissioner for agriculture, told a press conference on Friday 11 December that these programmes were an essential element of the common agriculture policy (CAP), to respond to the priorities and expectations of the citizens. This money will make investments available in growth and rural jobs to achieve a competitive agriculture sector, the Commissioner added. He stressed that the agriculture sector employed 22 million people in the EU and, adding the agri-food sector, this rises to 44 million jobs. These programmes have an important part to play in the sustainable management of natural resources and climate-related measures (environmentally respectful practices, energy investments and actions in the field of the climate).
The CAP is already playing an important role in fighting the effects of climate change, Hogan said. €16.3 billion in CAP funding will be linked to actions to fight climate change. These programmes will also allow 18.6 million citizens in rural areas to benefit from broadband Internet connections and help 170,000 young farmers to start up. 2,500 local action groups will help to create 46,000 new jobs on farms and 77,500 jobs in non-farming businesses in rural areas. 300,000 farmers will be helped to create short chains and local markets.
In all, €5.5 billion will be invested in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, such as biogas.
Finally, 2 million cows and 3 million pigs will benefit from investments to reduce greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)