A motion of great importance
The European Parliament today, 13 December, voted on the motion "A long-term vision for EU rural areas". Europe's rural areas are home to 137 million people, representing almost 30% of its population and over 80% of its territory. The motion includes important recognition for game management and its social, economic, cultural and biodiversity benefits, as well as a key call to reduce conflicts with large carnivores. To ensure that rural areas can continue to play these essential roles, a note from the European Commission sets out a long-term vision for EU rural areas up to 2040 and identifies areas for action towards stronger, connected rural areas and communities , resilient and prosperous. An EU Rural Pact and Rural Action Plan with tangible projects and new tools will help achieve the objectives of this vision.
Economic and social challenges
The European Parliament motion voted on today captures the complex economic and social challenges Europe's rural areas are facing. It presents a number of important solutions to ensure that rural communities are accompanied by the green transition. While rural areas in Europe are profoundly different historically, geographically and economically, they often face similar social and economic challenges. For example, access to high-quality services of general interest, demographic decline and ageing, vulnerability to the impacts of the crisis and political under-representation are just some of the challenges facing rural communities. Many challenges require bottom-up and community-based approaches. In this context, the motion calls for the effective application of the principle of subsidiarity to ensure that rural communities are more involved in the development, implementation and evaluation of EU policies that affect them.
Recognition for hunters
As far as hunting is concerned, the motion underlines "the importance in social, economic, cultural and biodiversity conservation terms of sustainable game management for the future of rural areas". This is significant recognition for the millions of hunters across Europe involved in conservation projects that bring a wide range of benefits to rural areas. In relation to environmental policies affecting rural stakeholders, the motion also focuses on the growing conflicts with large carnivores that rural communities face. In line with the recently adopted European Parliament motion "Protecting livestock farming and large carnivores in Europe", the motion recalls "the Commission's responsibility to assess progress in achieving conservation status and, if necessary, to amend the species protection status, if the desired conservation status is achieved”.
The words of Torbjörn Larsson
Commenting on the motion, Torbjörn Larsson, President of FACE, said: “The motion does an excellent job of highlighting the main challenges affecting Europe's rural areas, while at the same time highlighting the diversity of rural areas across Europe. Among these challenges, coexistence with large carnivores has become a key issue and the implementation of art. 19 of the Habitats Directive must be addressed by the Commission, following the recent request of the European Parliament”. The motion also refers to the EU's interest in building not only cross-border partnerships, but also partnerships beyond its borders, in order to promote more prosperous rural economies and societies with long-term mutual benefits (source: FIDC).