EU lists ways to spend rural farm cash in future

Tourism, e-business and protection of rare species are some of the activities European governments will be able to subsidise in order to keep farmers on the land in future, the European Commision said yesterday.

A single fund will cover EU rural spending from 2007 to 2013, simplifying financing rules for subsidising dozens of eligible projects that range from investment aids for waste treatment plants to protection of rare plants and animal breeds.

Three priority areas are addressed in the Commission's rural strategy document: raising the competitiveness of farming, improving land management and the environment, and diversifying the rural economy as well as improving rural life.

Suggested options for the first area include projects that aim to help young farmers and foster e-business ventures, for example. Under the second, the Commission would like to encourage biodiversity and cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

The third area is even broader and lists options to get more women into the rural labour market, develop micro-businesses and encourage tourism in the countryside.

"This strategy document gives member states a tool box from which they can choose, depending on their own situation and priorities," EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said in a statement.

EU governments will have to pay minimum percentage amounts for each of the three areas, and will discuss the set of suggested funding options in the next few months.

The idea is that they would finalise the details of their national rural strategy plans for 2007-13 in the first half of next year. Each plan would have to be approved by Brussels.

One major problem is that nobody knows yet how much money will be available to fund Europe's rural development policy, since last month's summit of EU leaders failed to agree on hard numbers for the bloc's 2007-13 financing.

At present, the rural budget stands at some €88 billion for the period, as the Commission originally proposed, although this sum is likely to be cut when EU leaders finally get to grips with the overall future budget.

Even so, it would mean a huge jump from the €30 billion that were allocated for 1996-2006.

Rural areas cover 90 per cent of the EU's territory and are home to about half its population. Farming and forestry are the main land users, and numerous countryside projects across the 25-country bloc receive funding from Brussels.