The ECR Group has supported an own-initiative report by the European Parliament to give rural areas better prospects.

Several areas suffer from population decline and ageing, fewer job opportunities, lower connectivity and reduced access to innovation. The Conservatives emphasise above all the importance of rural areas for food production. In order to stabilise affected areas, it is clear that the income of the farming population must be stabilised and that the farming profession must remain attractive.

Speaking in plenary, ECR shadow rapporteur Zbigniew Kuźmiuk said:

“We must ensure that farmers can make a profit from their work so that they can feed their families.

“Any strategies will be of no use if farming is not economically attractive, especially for the young generation, which today is fleeing from the countryside to the city, looking for a better life there.

“Three million farms have disappeared in Europe over the last ten years and this process is ongoing, although now with less intensity.”

According to Kuźmiuk, it is also worth noting that the development of rural areas, and especially the construction of social and technical infrastructure, should be financed from the Cohesion Fund. As he said, this has not been the case so far, and the money for the Common Agricultural Policy, especially from the second pillar, which should be spent on supporting farms, their modernization, and increasing agricultural production, was very often allocated to infrastructure.