Shot in the arm for Rural Development Policy at Cork conference  [PDF version]  

The second Rural Development conference held in Cork on 5-6 September was a remarkably constructive participatory event, engaging all the principal rural stake holders in agreeing some broad medium term priorities for European rural and agricultural policy post 2020. IEEP was actively involved in helping shape the final declaration, as it was at the first Cork Rural Development conference back in 1996.

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The Cork 2.0 Rural Development conference gathered 300 people back in Cork, Ireland, twenty years after the celebrated 1996 conference that contributed to the Fischler Agenda 2000 reform of the CAP and the introduction of the Rural Development second pillar. IEEP was actively involved in shaping the final declaration, as it also did back in 1996. 

Cork 2.0 was organised as a bottom-up participatory event, with four parallel workshops feeding in to final conclusions and the ten-point Declaration. Lying behind the Declaration is a shared sense that rural policy needed new vigour and a refreshed sense of direction to avoid it being relegated in the EU’s priorities and its budget reduced. To this end, IEEP’s David Baldock co-led the environmental workshop and was part of the declaration drafting team, with Kaley Hart acting as the rapporteur for the group, feeding back to the plenary on the main opportunities, drivers, barriers and ways forward for addressing environmental and climate issues via Rural Development Policy.  

Because all rural interest groups were present and worked constructively and creatively together, the Declaration is rather dense in detail, somewhat obscuring the broad picture for the non-insider. However, many delegates seemed to agree with Franz Fischler’s concluding remarks that rural development should in future become the core business of Europe’s rural and agricultural policy, implicitly incorporating Pillar 1 as a single element in a wider and more strategic framework. There is a confident tone in the language about improved performance, smart administration rather than mere simplification, addressing new elements such as the climate agenda, digitisation, and the need for policies to be accountable and fit for purpose. 

The original Cork Declaration was not formally adopted by EU institutions but nevertheless substantially influenced the subsequent evolution of the CAP. It can therefore be hoped that the Cork 2.0 Declaration will similarly contribute towards the defence of rural policy expenditure during 2017 and beyond, as the debate over the post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework and the CAP develops. IEEP will continue working actively to play a role in shaping these debates, including on the future of the CAP post 2020.

For more information, please contact David Baldock or Kaley Hart.