How to guarantee a future for European rural areas in a context marked by crises, economic transformations and demographic changes? This is one of the most urgent questions currently being discussed in Brussels and in the Union territories when it comes to local development.
Despite the significant progress made in recent decades, rural depopulation remains a structural challenge for many areas of European countries, especially those with a greater agricultural vocation such as Italy.
At the same time, rural territories hold enormous potential in terms of people, resources, culture and development, which with the right levers can contribute decisively to addressing the great European challenges, from strategic autonomy to the green transition. It is precisely in this context that cohesion policy can act to support different local realities and reduce territorial inequalities.
It is not just a financial instrument, but a real general framework that can avoid the risk of an increasingly divided Europe, in which rural areas lag behind in economic development and social involvement.
The objective is clear: to give a perspective to all citizens, to guarantee that those who live in disadvantaged or marginalized areas are not forced to leave to seek opportunities, and to set in motion a growth process that gives the possibility of staying and thriving.
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A crucial connection
“In rural areas, if there is a lack of effective coordination between the different levels of government, citizens immediately perceive the gap between politics and daily reality. Local communities risk feeling abandoned”, is the warning of Luca Menesini, president of the Province of Lucca and leader of the socialist group at the European Committee of the Regions, the EU consultative body representing the local and regional authorities of the 27 member states.
The intermediate authorities – presidents and provincial councils – represent the glue between European policies and the concrete needs of rural territories. Yet, explains Menesini, over the last few years institutional reforms in Italy have reduced the role of the provinces, leaving small municipalities alone in the face of challenges that are too complex to manage independently.
The need for a direct link between Brussels and the territories emerges when European cohesion policy comes into play. “We cannot talk about competitiveness without cohesion, because it is the first step to create the conditions for development”, makes it clear the president of the Province of Lucca, highlighting the role of EU funds in strengthening infrastructure, public services and job opportunities in rural areas.
To manage an instrument that is much more than a financial lever, it is necessary to act on different levels of planning and design of interventions on the territory, in particular on the provincial level, which has a more detailed knowledge of the specificities and needs that are also very different between areas within the same region.
“The municipality alone is not enough, it is often too small to plan in the long term and deal with daily emergencies. It is the intermediate institution that guarantees continuity, planning capacity and coherence with European objectives”.
Between intermediate authorities and demographic node
That intermediate authorities constitute the essential engine for the implementation of European cohesion policy in rural territories is also confirmed by many other cases around Europe. Raquel Del Puerto Carrasco, president of the Provincial Council of Badajoz – located in the autonomous community of Extremadura, in southwestern Spain – highlights the role of the provinces in guaranteeing services in low-density territories, guaranteeing the effectiveness of Brussels’ interventions.
“Our priority is to promote territorial cohesion, avoiding depopulation and guaranteeing a better quality of life.” This objective translates into a concrete action to rebalance financial resources between the different municipalities of the province according to specific needs, coordination of interventions to ensure homogeneous development and attention towards the smaller municipalities, so that they can benefit from adequate services.
The approach followed in the Spanish province of Badajoz is the so-called “municipalism”, i.e. an approach based on directly listening to the territories. “Decisions must come from those who know the real needs of citizens, otherwise the risk is that of seeing entire territories emptied”, explains Del Puerto Carrasco, indicating the direction to make national and European public action more effective.
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It is precisely the demographic decline, coupled with youth emigration, that constitutes one of the main crisis factors for rural areas. This phenomenon does not only concern some peripheral countries or areas, but affects a large part of rural Europe, making coordinated intervention between EU institutions and individual territories even more urgent.
Grzegorz Kubalski, deputy director of the Association of Polish Counties, offers a very timely reflection: “Infrastructure is important, but society is even more important.” In other words, even the most substantial investments risk losing effectiveness if people and their needs are not put at the center for the development of the territory, which varies from area to area.
In this sense, European cohesion policy must maintain and further strengthen the focus not only on financial and material interventions, but also on those for social strengthening. In addition to Spanish “municipalism”, another compass that guides European cohesion must be, according to the Polish Kubalski, the principle of subsidiarity, which is already enshrined in the founding Treaties of the EU.
That is, the Union intervenes only if the action is more effective than national, regional or local action, bringing decisions closer to citizens. “When local communities are no longer able to carry out their tasks, the role of intermediate authorities becomes crucial to coordinate national and European action”, recalls the deputy director of the Association of Polish Counties.
Cohesion policy cannot and must not be limited to the construction of infrastructure, but must support the progress of rural and peripheral communities, promoting services, employment and quality of life.
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The balance between competitiveness and green transition
In this reasoning on the balanced development of rural communities and the role of intermediate authorities, attention must also be kept high in Brussels, where the balance between competitiveness and cohesion risks being compromised within the next long-term budget of the European Union.
The president of the Province of Lucca Menesini warns of the risks of centralization of resources, underlining that this could leave rural areas further marginalized. “It is essential to ensure a cohesion policy that respects multilevel governance and the role of local autonomies. Only in this way can we guarantee balanced and sustainable development”.
The risk, otherwise, is that economic growth is concentrated only in the strongest areas, deepening inequalities and emptying rural territories even further in favor of large and medium-sized urban conglomerates.
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The ecological transition represents one of the main opportunities to revitalize rural areas and cohesion policy can play a decisive role in supporting it, within and beyond the current borders of the Union. Natalia Eremia, president of the Ialoveni District Council (Moldova), explains concretely how this process can generate economic benefits for peripheral territories.
“The transition to renewable energy is not only an environmental priority, but also a strong economic opportunity.” This is demonstrated by the projects related to solar energy, energy efficiency and circular economy financed by the EU in the candidate country, which “are already producing tangible results, creating jobs and reducing costs for local communities”.
The Italian experience also confirms this trend. Initiatives linked to recycling and the valorisation of local resources can generate jobs and strengthen the social fabric, becoming drivers of employment and social cohesion.
Menesini brings concrete examples of interventions linked to the Green Deal and sustainable innovation to make rural territories more attractive. “We have developed separate collection systems and cooperatives for the recovery of materials, creating jobs and opportunities for young people. This is how European cohesion policy can be transformed into real development.”
Cohesion policy, through its financial instruments, can support this transformation, encouraging targeted investments and promoting models of sustainable development.
