During a webinar on Tuesday 7 July, Dacian Cioloș, president of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament, warned that the Covid-19 pandemic has undermined the economic dynamics of the continent and, without a closer connection between urban and rural areas, “we will become even more vulnerable to future crises”.
Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, Werner Hoyer, the President of the EIB, and Iratxe García Pérez, the President of the S&D Group in the European Parliament, took part in this event on the theme of ‘A Vision for Rural Europe’.
Cioloș welcomed von der Leyen’s announcement that the Commission would be launching a wide public consultation at EU level on the future of rural areas.
The president of the Renew Europe group stated that “if we want to win the fight against climate change, we will have to view rural areas as a solution”. He noted that, bearing in mind the requirements of the European Green Deal, rural areas have the capacity not only to reduce carbon emissions, “but also to transform the carbon challenges into solutions”.
Von der Leyen stated that “we would like to change our approach to agriculture, particularly as a result of the European Green Deal. She concluded by saying that the message to rural communities needs to be: “Choosing to go digital and follow green policies will pay off”.
A link to the webinar can be found at: https://bit.ly/3edTYpA (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)