 So, welcome back colleagues for this important debate on the long-term vision for rural areas. I want to particularly welcome Commissioner Suitsa, I'm going to add former Mayor of Dubrovnik, Vice President of the Commission for Democracy and Demography. In addition, Commissioner Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture on the on behalf and on behalf of the entire COR membership and team to thank you both for accepting this invitation and indeed for the ongoing close cooperation between us. I also want to particularly welcome Madam Isabel Carvalhice, member of the Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and Rapporteur on the long-term vision to thank you all for taking time from what I'm sure are very, very busy schedules to be with us for this important debate. I'd now like to commence the debate with a video, so colleagues can I ask you to please start launch the video. I think it should be a unique window that manages all the papers carried by the employer in rural media, because we were practically three years developing the idea through bureaucratic methods. It is necessary to promote the professionals not only working at the large hospitals. I would like to emphasize that rural people who want to live in our areas, opportunities. Dear Vice President, dear Commissioner, I'd very much like to start this debate with two key words, rural pact, from Brussels legislators to policy practitioners on the ground from the European Commission to the tiniest municipal council. We all agree we need to bring EU national, regional and local actors together with a real pact that sets objectives and tools to help rural areas out of this crisis and to open a new phase of prosperity for the European countryside. This is not a bureaucratic request, but an evidenced based demand. In our latest regional and local barometer published last October, we raised awareness about the impact of the current crisis on rural areas. We stressed that the increasing gaps that penalize rural communities demand a coordinated action. In this context, the EU long-term vision for rural areas and the relevant action plan proposed by the European Commission include important provisions and offer a valuable strategic framework to plan a sustainable future for our rural communities. We have increased clarity on rules, adequate funding coming from both the EU regular budget and next generation EU, and a stronger public awareness about the many challenges for rural areas more visible during the pandemic. But what we really miss, which might endanger our success, is a real political willingness to work in partnership. Indeed, both the reformed common agricultural policy and the recovery and resilience facility risk being overly centralized. Neglecting the partnership principle will make them ineffective. The pact we need is therefore a political one in order to avoid taking a territorial blind approach to rural revival and miss a once in a lifetime opportunity offered by an unprecedented European investment plan. Our rural areas are dealing with dramatic demographic challenges, digital gaps, low income levels, limited economic diversification, limited access to services, weaker connectivity and specific climate change implications. Our cooperation will be crucial to address these challenges. Our committee stands ready to promote rural parks on a ground in and for our communities. Dear Vice President Suitsa, as I said, it's a pleasure that you're joining with us today. The floor is now yours. Thank you. Good afternoon to everybody, dear members of the Committee of the Region. I'm glad to have this exchange with you today on the Commission's long-term vision for rural areas and to be here with my colleague, Commissioner Wojcichowski, ahead of your vote on this report. I have read your opinion with great interest and yesterday I had the pleasure to meet with your reporter to discuss in detail various elements of the report that you are adopting today. I am delighted to see that you largely share the Commission's analysis of the challenges that rural areas currently face. I think about the population, lack of access to services, lack of skills and infrastructure, which you mentioned. And as European Commissioner Vice President for Democracy and Demography, I think about the need for rural stakeholders to feel included in policymaking process. This is part of making our democracy fit for the future and making sure we leave no one and nowhere behind. I welcome your call to make rural areas part of the Conference on the Future of Europe. This communication has been drafted on the basis of a wide public consultation that has very much guided our work on this vision. But the conference itself is mindful of rural concerns. Many recommendations that have already been adopted point in the direction of rural areas, while some build directly on this long-term vision. Indeed, we have ensured that an appropriate proportion of the randomly selected citizens participating in the European panels actually come from rural areas. Last weekend, we had the third plenary session of the conference during which we discussed these specific recommendations. I appreciate the commitment of your representatives and of local and regional authorities in this process. You are the backbone shaping the European Union of the future. And let me be clear, any change in order to be sustainable must be embraced at the local level, because that is the one that is the closest to our citizens. And our ambition with the long-term vision is to generate a new momentum for rural areas with a set of tools that should help rural regions become more prosperous, connected, sustainable and attractive. The Committee of the Regions is the first institution to adopt its formal opinion on this long-term vision. Your recommendations will provide us with guidance for the implementation phase of this vision. The publication of the communication was indeed just the starting point. A roadmap for the next 40 years to be successful on this road, we need to work together. My impression after reading your report is that we are very much aligned when it comes to identifying opportunities such as the vital role rural areas play in the green transition you mentioned, the potential of digitalization and yes, there are some positive prospects of changes brought about by the pandemic. I very much welcome your recommendations on urban rural linkages, the need for a fair rural urban balance and recognizing mutual benefits and the beneficial character of rural investment for urban residents. But we must also bear in mind that apart from the green and digital transitions, there is another almost silent transition that is transforming our continent, the demographic transition. And if you do not factor this in, our policies cannot be as effective as we wish them to be. I would like to touch upon four key points from the vision on which cooperation with you, the European Committee of the Regions, will be of vital importance. These are the action plan that is underpinning this vision. Secondly, the rural pact. The third is the rural proofing. And finally, the handbook for the better use of European funds. The rationale behind the action plan is that this is not a vision for some far away future, but that we have a roadmap to start building this future together as of right now. We share your sense of urgency to act for rural areas. And when we started this rural vision process 18 months ago, Commissioner Wojcichowski, Commissioner Ferrera and I invited member states, we invited member states to take into account this rural vision process in the programming of European funds. We have just renewed this request in a letter to all member states. Commission services are currently deeply engaged in assessing the operational programs and strategic plans submitted by member states and regions. Our services will do their best to ensure the needs of rural areas are addressed through adequate interventions. I know that my colleague, Commissioner Wojcichowski will tell you more about that. We have already started implementing a number of points from the action plan. Our intention is by mid 2023 next year to take stock of what actions have been carried out and programmed in support schemes for rural areas in the programming period between 2021 and 2027. In parallel, we have taken concrete steps to launch the creation of EU rural observatory to operationalize rural proofing and to structure ideas for the rural revitalization platform. Most of the flagships are underway bringing all different commission departments and policies on board. And dear members, I want to conclude with a few words on the rural pack because I know it is very much in your focus. It is clear that we cannot achieve this vision alone. That is why we have proposed the rural pack. All authorities and stakeholders who support the shared goals of the vision and want to work towards its achievement should co-shape it together with us. This should help realize the rural vision in synergy with different policies and local action in rural communities. Just a few weeks ago on the 20th of December last year, we launched the rural pack by inviting all relevant institutions, authorities and stakeholders to join the rural pack community and to develop this pack working towards the high level rural pack conference that we want to hold this year in June. I would like to thank you for your commitment to work with us on this pack. Together we can successfully organize the commitments at all levels of governance and in order to achieve the shared goals of this vision. To conclude, I want to use this opportunity to go beyond rural vision and to sincerely thank you for your broad engagement in the conference on the future of Europe and the interesting proposals made in your interim report published on 14th of December. I look forward to the final results of your work that I understand will be presented in Marseille in a few weeks where I am planning to join you again. Thank you and I understand that now my colleague and co-author of this vision, Commissioner Wojcichowski will take the floor. Thank you and all the best. Thank you so much Commissioner for those positive and inspiring words and as you said we're also joined and I'm delighted to welcome Commissioner Wojcichowski and I hope I've got your pronunciation right. Commissioner, it's now my pleasure to give you the floor. Commissioner Wojcichowski, the floor is yours. Thank you very much. Thank you for inviting me to join you today. I would like to begin by congratulating you on your excellent work, in particular Mr Moreno Bonilla and the co-reporters. I look forward to today's adoption of the opinion on the long-term vision for rural areas, which represents the fruit of your work and marks another milestone in our progress. I am also looking forward to today's discussion. We launched the vision precisely to open a discussion on the future of rural areas and what steps we can take to make that future happen. The vision and the actions included within it provides a tangible way of engaging with rural communities, of showing to rural people that we recognize their importance and that we see a future for them. I am always keen on reminding that this support has basis in the treaty itself. Article 174 of the Treaty of the European Union clearly states that among the region's concerned particular attention shall be paid to inter-alia-alia rural areas. That is why it is so important to remember that in all interventions that are supposed to support these areas, it is crucial that they are implemented for them, not just in them. I am glad that you agree with us on the opportunities that await rural areas. We share your objective to make the most of the EU policies over the 2021-2027 period to progress towards this vision. Let me highlight the new common agricultural policy, which we are working hard to prepare for 2023. As you say in your assessment, agriculture and food have a key role to play in building a bright future for rural areas. While the CAP has a focus on farmers, it is a key policy for the rural economy as a whole. A number of measures under rural development, the so-called second pillar of the common agricultural policy, are designed to strengthen the socio-economic fabric in rural areas by promoting jobs and growth, social inclusion and local development. Rural development remains as an essential part of the reform CAP, with over 60 billion euro in funding for the 2023-2027 period. This funding can contribute to all of the policies objectives, in particular the specific objectives on vibrant rural areas and can be challenged through key initiatives for rural communities, such as leader and smart villages. When assessing the CAP plans submitted by member states, we are checking very carefully to ensure that the needs of rural areas as assessed in each country as identified in the long-term vision are well-addressed through adequate interventions. We are also paying attention to how the plans support a coherent approach to the development of rural areas through coordination and complementarity between policies. For example, as Vice President Sweetsha mentioned earlier, the cohesion policy provides an adaptable framework for member states and regions to support all territories. It is clear that the common agricultural policy and the cohesion policy can combine to provide a real, enabling environment for member states and the regions to support rural areas. However, it is important to stress that other EU and national policies also have a significant role to play. We need to keep the rural dimension of policymaking high on the agenda. This is essential if we are to have a truly balanced development of the European Union. Looking at rural areas only as a part of territorial contexts or only from the point of view of some sectors of policies gives an incomplete picture of their role in our society and economy. That is why we have introduced the mechanism of rural proofing. This means we will look at various policies through a rural lens and question how they will affect rural areas. Effective rural proofing will require improving the data we have to access, the situation of rural areas, the rural observatory that we are developing and which should deliver its first results by the end of 2022 will help us to progressively upgrade the evidence we have on rural areas. As you know, we launched in December the discussion on how to establish the rural pact as vice presidents which are recalled. Our rural pact will bring together all of our rural stakeholders from both the public and private spheres and across European, national, regional and local levels. Participants in the pact will be invited to commit to the 10 shared goals of the vision which reflects the needs and aspirations of rural residents and determined from extensive consultations. Participants will then be invited to set out voluntary actions that can contribute to the realization of these goals. To enable participants to share progress and stock of their actions, the commission will maintain a dedicated website in addition to organizing a number of events and engagements. In this way, the pact will provide rural stakeholders from across Europe with a platform to share their ideas, challenges and successes and to discuss opportunities for cooperation. The high level rural pact conference in June 2022 will be a key moment where all those who support the shared goals of the vision and who want to work towards their achievement will be able to make to make concrete commitments. The committee of regions has a key role to play in facilitating this engagement. I'm happy to note that the rural pact community is already strong and growing every day with nearly 500 subscribers and counting. I would like to thank you for your will to work with us and with all the levels of governance and stakeholders to develop this pact and to prepare the rural pact conference. We have a lot of discuss on how to best organize a rural pact process to deliver real progress on the ground. On this note, I will finish my opening remarks and open the floor to our discussion. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, commissioner. And finally and by no means least in terms of the opening statements, it's now my pleasure to give the floor to Madam Isabel Carvalhys, member of the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture Rural Development and indeed Rapporteur on the long-term vision. Isabel, it's my pleasure now to give you the floor. Thank you. Thank you very much, Michael. And since we have translation services available, I will use my mother tongue to make this presentation. Hope it's okay. So I'll speak slowly just in case some of the words may be missing. So I will start by saudar, todos e todas, é muito especial os meus colegas de painel. A senhora vice-presidente da Comissar Europeia, do Bravka Svivka, e aqui tenho também o problema da pronúncia correta do seu nome. E o mesmo desafio para dizer o nome do senhor Comissar da Agricultura, Giannos Wojcikowski. E portanto, se disserem mal no meu apelido, estão perfeitamente desculpados, porque tenho estas limitações como podem ver. E também uma saudação especial ao relator da opinião do Comitê das Regiões, o Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, e aos senhores representantes regionais e locais que estão presentes nesta reunião de hoje. Eu gostaria também de agradecer ao Comitê das Regiões, na pessoa do seu presidente, o senhor Adzizi Kostas, pela oportunidade, que no fundo me dá de estar aqui e de poder debatir com vosco um tema que nos é muito caro, que é o futuro das nossas donas corais na Europa. Começarem na hora perito. Eu estou como relatora, portanto, o Parlamento Europeu encontra-se em fase de construção do relatório sobre a visão do longo prazo da Comissão para o Mundural e, nesse sentido, o vosso contributo é muito importante e é muito útil para o nosso trabalho. Pessoalmente, enquanto relatora do Parlamento Europeu para este relatório, dou a máxima importância ao contributo e à colaboração com o Comitê das Regiões nesta matéria, na medida em que, enfim, não digo nada demais, o vosso conhecimento, a vossa experiência no terreno é por todos reconhecida e, portanto, são imputos essenciais para a concretização efetiva desta visão. A Comunicação da Comissão, certamente que todos o reconhecemos, vem dinamizar e vem dar centralidade e vem dar visibilidade política a um debate que é urgente e que não se limita, obviamente, às donas burais, que têm implicações sobre o que deve ser a Coesão Territorial no futuro e um debate a que somos todos chamados. Unimos um grande objetivo, que é o de alcançar um desenvolvimento territorial mais harmonioso ou de reduzir as muitas desigualdades que ainda subsistem e com muita força em algumas áreas na Europa. E todos nós conhecemos os grandes desafios que são enfrentados pelas áreas corais, aliás, todos os trabalhos da Comissão e esta comunicação em particular, faldo de uma forma muito clara, estão bem identificados todos esses desafios, que não são iguais, não são sentidos da mesma forma, com a mesma intensidade, por todo o mundo oral. E, obviamente, que fazem-se sentir muito mais em zonas remotas, que têm constrangimentos específicos, com as regiões montanhosas, as regiões outras periféricas, etc. E, portanto, neste contexto, e aqui também quero deixar isso, que podem contar com todo meu empenho, e tenho certeza com o empenho de todo o parlamentar, o que eu, para a concretização desta visão sobre o mundo oral. Eu sou doindo a opinião elaborada pelo relator e pelos colegas do Comitê das Regiões, que será adotada, e com a qual encontro desde já vários pontos de convergência. É de facto, eu diria, de facto uma pena, que a comunicação sobre a visão do longo prazo tenha chegado numa fase já tão avançada da programação deste novo quadro financeiro, sendo que alguns dos instrumentos mais relevantes, nomeadamente os ligados à política de coesão e à política agrícola, se encontram também eles já numa fase muito avançada da sua programação. Em todo caso, este é o momento de início da execução do novo período de programação, e, por isso, eu juro que será muito importante que não se percam estes anos, que se procure ao máximo encontrar propostas concretas para a ação imediata em vez de nos focarmos apenas no longo prazo. Obviamente que temos de pensar no longo prazo, mas temos de compreender, e todos aqui nós compreendemos que as nossas zonas rurais não podem ficar num limbo temporal e, portanto, há que uma urgência política nas respostas que temos de encontrar. E eu acredito que, neste contexto, neste cenário, há ainda muito que pode ser feito agora, até porque os acordos de parceria e os planos estratégicos da PAC, da política agrícola comum, estão na sua grande maioria ainda na fase da avaliação, e isso significa, na minha perspectiva, que ainda temos aqui uma janela de tempo que permitirá enquadrar pelo menos algumas das medidas preconizadas nesta visão. E eu espero, sinceramente, que a dimensão territorial rural seja de facto incluída no planimento das medidas por parte de todos os Estados Membros, mas, sobretudo, por parte dos Estados que enfrentam mais desafios ao seu mundo rural e, eu espero, aqui, também uma ação forte da comissão a este nível. Em paralelo, e mesmo dentro do quadro dos quadros legislativos existentes, é possível trabalhar muito melhor tanto na implementação de ações como na sua articulação. Eu estou certa de que já ouviram inúmeras vezes, tal como eu já ouvi inúmeras vezes falar dos desafios que os atos locais enfrentam para combinar os diversos fundos. E, como tudo isso, dificulta imenso a implementação de abordagens holísticas nas zonas rurales. E, portanto, nesse sentido, algo absolutamente urgente é conseguir melhorar as sinergias entre os diversos fundos. E, importa igualmente não esquecer o papel que outros programas e fundos podem ter no apoio, podem e devem ter no apoio as zonas rurales, para além daquilo que são as políticas tradicionais que nós inúmeramos sempre, como a política agrícola e a política de colesão. E será por isso também importante que outras políticas europeias no futuro, mas no futuro a curto prazo, saibam incorporar esta visão territorial e a dimensão rural no desenho das suas medidas. A articulação, que o ordenação é fundamental. É muito em particular o papel da agricultura, que é e que deverá continuar a ser um pilar das nossas comunidades rurales. Eu costumo dizer um bocadinho a brincar que nós até podemos conceber alguns modelos da agricultura fora do mundo rural. Podemos imaginar a agricultura sem ser no mundo rural. Dá-se de pensar, por exemplo, na agricultura vertical urbana ou nos processos da produção alimentar em laboratório, que é discutível se estaremos a falar da agricultura. O que eu não consigo imaginar é mundo rural sem agricultura. E, portanto, é fundamental nós trazermos sempre para esta equação da sustentabilidade do mundo rural à agricultura. Não qualquer tipo de agricultura, obviamente, mas uma agricultura sustentável em todas as suas dimensões. Uma agricultura que proteja o património natural e ambiental dos nossos territórios e que é um bem maior das donas rurales, como sabemos e uma agricultura que providencia um rendimento justo aos nossos agricultores que traga valor para as populações locais, que contribua para a fixação dos jovens para a criação de oportunidades de trabalho. Uma agricultura que, naturalmente, se articule com outras atividades purcas, a diversificação econômica é uma estratégia essencial para a criação de riqueza e a fixação de populações. E, portanto, nos cinco minutos que foram dados, e que eu agradeço imenso e eu gostaria de dizer em conclusão de que precisamos de facto, e estamos de acordo de uma elevada ambição para o futuro das áreas rurales, precisamos de pensar desde já como é que a dimensão rural deve ser incluída no próximo quadro de programação de uma forma horizontal de uma forma coordenada nas diferentes políticas europeias não apenas nas tradicionais. Precisamos de descomplicar já o acesso e articulação entre os diversos fundos para permitir as abordagens mais holísticas e integradas. Precisamos com urgência que tanto os acordes de parceria como os planos estratégicos nacionais como os planos de recuperação e de resiliência fundamentais tenham todos em conjunto uma visão coordenada e integrada sobre as prioridades para a coisão e para o desenvolvimento territorial dos respectivos estados e que nessas prioridades esteja muito claramente a presença do mundo rural. Isto obviamente que também tem que ser o Estado, cada Estado mesmo, a pensar e a inteligir essa mesma urgência esta prioridade que deve ser dada para o mundo rural. Precisamos de responder com urgência política máxima ao percento de descontentamento das lonas burais que leva muitas vezes as pessoas nessas zonas a sentir-se fora do contrato social. Isto explica muitos dos fenómenos de desarticulação de afastamento de interesse pela vida política e até mesmo de interesse do contrato social. E não podemos deixar que isso aconteça é nossa obrigação de facto mostrar de modo concreto a quem vive nos territórios rurais sobretudo os mais desfavorcidos porque nem todos os territórios rurais estão no mesmo patamar de desigualdade deve dizer. Mas temos que dizer a essas populações que todos efectivamente contam que não os abandonamos e portanto é certamente o objetivo que todos nós temos no Parlamento, na Comissão enfim, os Estados todos os envolvidos quando falamos numa estratégia numa visão de longo prazo para o mundo rural. E ficava agora por aqui e depois terei a oportunidade novamente de falar mais à frente neste debate. Muito obrigada. A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A