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Learn how Rural Development Programmes are supporting entrepreneurship among young people in Finland. The SILTA project was short-listed for the Rural Inspiration Awards of 2019.

Find more good practices related to rural youth in the ENRD Project Database.

A recent ENRD workshop – that took place in Brussels, on 21 May 2019 - sought to address a pressing issue for many EU Member States facing population decline in rural areas.

The event explored how Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) and other EU policies, can contribute to the challenge of countering unwanted demographic trends. Participants had the opportunity to learn from national and local initiatives to attract people to stay in or return to rural areas, sharing lessons on how to address depopulation and identify opportunities.

Two recent publications present case studies and examples to counter rural depopulation and revitalise rural areas through social and digital innovation.

• Explore the latest study produced by REDR, the Spanish LEADER Network, that gives an overview of available policy tools and resources to combat rural depopulation, as well as specific examples. It is available in both Spanish and English.
• Get inspired by 12 good practices published by the Spanish National Rural Network (NRN) on projects dealing with depopulation, youth, entrepreneurship, digitisation, tourism and many more. The publication is available in Spanish and English.

Discover the latest ENRD Briefings that provide orientations for an enabling policy framework to support Smart Villages, exploring opportunities under the current programming period and looking forward to the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The documents are targeted mainly at national and regional policy-makers and implementers to help them put in place both rural and regional policies which enable rural communities to respond to the challenges they face. These four briefings focus on the following:

1. How to support Smart Villages strategies which effectively empower rural communities?
2. How can LEADER/CLLD support Smart Villages?
3. Using non-LEADER/CLLD cooperation to support Smart Villages
4. How to ensure that digital strategies benefit rural communities?

The documents are the outcome of the work of ENRD Thematic Group (TG) on Smart Villages.

Browse the insight papers developed by the SMARTA project providing an analysis of the policy frameworks in each of the EU member states on rural mobility.

The documents give an overview of the countries’ characteristics, looking in depth at all levels: national, regional, county and local government/administration. The first set is available online and can be downloaded here. More insight papers will be made available soon.

The 3rd meeting of the Thematic Group (TG) on 'Mainstreaming the Bioeconomy' (Brussels, 15 May 2019) discussed awareness raising and knowledge transfer approaches that effectively reach rural stakeholders and increase their capacity to benefit from the bioeconomy.

The meeting was also the occasion to discuss the results of the analytic work of the Thematic Group, in particular the draft recommendations on the use of RDP measures and other EU funded instruments to promote sustainable rural bioeconomy value chains. The recommendations will be launched and discussed at the ENRD Bioeconomy Seminar on 3 July.

In the recent 11th meeting of the European Rural Networks’ Steering Group (SG), members exchanged on the outcomes from the ENRD 'networX' event and the implications for rural networks in taking next steps in their own activities.

The meeting also provided an update on planned and recent rural networks’ activities. SG members considered the next steps for self-assessment of the Rural Networks and exchanged ideas for ENRD Contact Point activities for the next year (July 2019 - July 2020).

A new Initiative facilitating access to funding for young farmers was recently launched by Commissioner Hogan and Andrew McDowell, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) aiming to support the generational renewal of EU farming.

A €1 billion loans package stays in the heart of the joint ‘Young Farmers initiative' bringing together existing EAFRD support (grants and financial instruments) and the financial means and expertise of the EIB. In addition, fi-compass advisory products will be available to Managing Authorities to support its implementation for agriculture and the bioeconomy.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the framework of State Aid rules for agriculture, forestry and rural areas. Fill in the online questionnaire by 19 July 2019!

The consultation aims at collecting, from all stakeholders concerned, information and views on both the performance of the current rules and the possible design of the future rules. The outcome will contribute to the evaluation and impact assessment in preparation for the future State aid framework for 2021-2027.

The recently published OECD Principles on Urban and Rural Policy underline the critical role of place-based policies in helping national governments deliver high quality of life and well-being to people across the three dimensions of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental).

The principles are key tools for countries to use for designing, implementing and monitoring these policies in order to build better futures for regions, cities and rural areas.

Browse through more outcomes of the Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the Regional Development Policy Committee.

The Polish Rural Network has recently published an interactive map of the 324 Local Action Groups (LAGs) covering the territory of Poland.

The map is divided into 16 regions (voivodships) and cross-referenced with the LAG Database 2014-2020, presenting contact details, geographical area and population, municipalities covered and the European Structural Investment (ESI) funds used by each LAG.

An EU Directive on unfair trading practices in the food supply chain entered into force on 30 April 2019, aiming to protect farmers and small food producers against falling victim to such practices in business-to-business relationships.

The Directive, which establishes a layer of minimum protection that will apply in all EU Member States, also provides for enhanced enforcement, coordination among authorities facilitated by the European Commission and evaluation of the policy. Member States will have to transpose the Directive into national law by April 2021 and apply it 6 months later.