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Sierra Norte Action on COVID-19

Madrid was the main COVID-19 hotspot in Spain. However, Sierra Norte de Madrid, an area comprising 42 municipalities and 29 500 residents, managed to curb the impact of the virus, registering the lowest rate of contagion in the entire Madrid region. Discover how GALSINMA, the Local Action Group (LAG), set up the Acción Sierra Norte platform to protect those most at risk from the spread of COVID-19, and organised volunteer work responding to various needs of the population such as making face masks and gowns, cleaning and disinfecting services or checking up on seniors through phone calls and applications like Zoom or Skype.

Find out more about this project.

The ENRD is setting up a new Thematic Group (TG), #Rural2040, which will contribute to the “Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas” being developed by the European Commission. In a recent webinar organised by Renew Europe, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, stated that the preparation of the vision “should be done in close consultation with people living in rural areas, as well as local and regional authorities”.

You are invited to express your interest in becoming a member of the Thematic Group through this link by 28 August 2020. For more information such as the TG’s description and objectives, as well as the criteria for becoming a member and participating in meetings, please visit the dedicated webpage.

The ENRD is launching a new Thematic Group to explore the role of the European Green Deal (EGD) in agricultural and rural areas and the contribution of rural activities to the EGD’s objectives. We invite you to express your interest to participate in the Thematic Group, indicating which particular areas of interest you wish to work on. The Group’s main focus will be further developed and refined in the coming weeks when further information about the Group, its objectives and activities will be made available via a forthcoming webpage. Please register your interest here by 28 August and follow the dedicated page for more info.

The European Council adopted a regulation which allows Member States, as an exceptional measure, to pay up to €7 000 to farmers and up to €50 000 to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) active in processing, marketing or development of agricultural products or cotton, except fishery products. The aim is to make use of available funds under existing rural development programmes to provide support to farmers and SME's worst-hit by the COVID-19 crisis and to address the liquidity and cash-flow problems stemming from the closures of shops, markets and restaurants. The regulation has been published here and the new exceptional rural development measure can now be used by Member States/regions in their RDPs. 

Find out more here.

To support the agri-food sector in the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, the European Commission launched two calls for proposals for promotion programmes. These calls complement the exceptional market-specific support measures recently adopted by the Commission.

Fruit and vegetables, wine, live plants, milk and milk products, and potatoes for processing are the sectors eligible for the promotion support of €10 million. These calls target the sectors most hit by the crisis. The promotion programmes will have to be implemented in the EU or any third country, and for a duration of one year.

The deadline to apply is 27 August 2020.

Rural development (and other) stakeholders are invited to send comments on the Commission’s proposed roadmap for the evaluation and fitness check of state aid rules for high-speed broadband and broadband network deployment, before full public consultations open in the second part of 2020.

Comments for the roadmap on Broadband network deployment – evaluation of EU state aid rules - can be sent until 11 August 2020.

A new ‘CAP post-2020’ information portal has been set up on the ENRD website. This will regularly collect key CAP related legislative documents and will showcase presentations from Member States concerning their preparations for CAP post-2020 programming.

Content in the new portal already includes materials from a range of EAFRD stakeholders, as well as recent news on the CAP post-2020 process. Examples include the European Commission’s presentation in the European Rural Networks’ Steering Group providing an update on the state of play of Commission initiatives, including the CAP Reform and other relevant EU policy initiatives, as well as the coronavirus response initiatives relevant for the agri-food sector and rural areas.

50 pioneer Local Action Groups in Turkey will start implementing their local strategies in July 2020, following the LEADER approach to rural development. The EU-financed IPARD programme will provide €16.2 million to the first 50 Turkish Local Action Groups (LAGs) for implementing their local development strategies. These funds will finance the running costs of the LAGs, animation and capacity building as well as small projects in the area of local products, rural diversification, short value chains for agricultural products, rural tourism, the environment, village space, social and cultural organisations and networking.

Find out more here.

The OECD organised a webinar on 22 June 2020 about the short term and medium/long term effects and challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy on one side, and on the well-being of rural regions on the other (see presentations). The webinar made reference to the recently published OECD Policy Note on ‘Policy implications of the coronavirus crisis for rural development’ which outlines some of the opportunities that can emerge from the crisis for rural areas, such as: digitalisation, remote work, local destinations and products, public service provision, repatriating strategic industries, low-carbon economy and local networking and cooperation.

Enrique Nieto (ENRD) presented an overview of responses and initiatives implemented in rural areas to cope with and adapt to the consequences of COVID-19.

The ENRD is continuing and extending its work of collecting examples of projects and initiatives launched primarily by rural communities to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, support rural businesses and foster solidarity with those more vulnerable in this exceptional situation.

This page aims to disseminate good examples that can inspire other rural stakeholders, and also provides information about European Commission initiatives aimed at alleviating the current challenges faced by rural Europe. To submit your contributions, contact: publications@enrd.eu.

Update: the ENRD CP office in Brussels remains closed until further notice due to the COVID-19 outbreak and as teleworking increasingly becomes a new norm. However, our team remains fully operational and available via email, social media and our website. We invite you to keep an eye on the Upcoming Events section of our website, where we list relevant forthcoming events. Feel free to contact us at any time!

The highlights report of the ENRD Thematic Lab on ‘Maintaining and widening stakeholder engagement’ explores the role of LEADER and LEADER Local Action Groups (LAGs) in maintaining and widening stakeholder engagement in their local areas in order to develop short and long-term responses to local challenges. The Thematic Lab also provided an opportunity to discuss LAGs' responses to the COVID-19 crisis.

The highlights report of the 12th meeting of the ENRD Thematic Group (TG) on 'Smart Villages' presents examples of how the Managing Authorities (MAs) of Austria, Ireland and Slovenia are planning to support Smart Villages in their future CAP Strategic Plans.

The highlights report of the 4th and final ENRD Thematic Group meeting on 'Bioeconomy and climate action' provides examples of rural businesses that integrate climate action and the low-carbon bioeconomy in their business models, through the circular use of wastes and by-products.

This factsheet provides an overview of the issues that need to be considered in order to improve access to services such as healthcare, education, mobility and shopping by the rural population. It was produced in the framework of the ENRD thematic work on Social Inclusion.

This briefing introduces the main ideas presented at the 11th ENRD Thematic Group meeting on 'Smart Villages' on how to design support for Smart Villages in the future CAP Strategic Plans based on the ideas discussed in Poland.

This factsheet identifies how climate benefits can be optimised at different stages of providing support for rural bioeconomy in the CAP Strategic Plans. It was produced as part of the activities of ENRD Thematic Group on Bioeconomy and climate action in rural areas.

Following the Workshop on Rural Jobs held in November 2019, this second ENRD Workshop on Vibrant Rural Areas looked at supporting the access to services for the rural population.

Presentations from the webinar and background documents can be found here.

The ENRD organised a webinar on 'Climate Action and Resilient Rural Economy', drawing on its thematic work on the topics of bioeconomy, climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation in rural areas,

Presentations from the webinar and background documents can be found here.

The webinar addressed various digital methods of exchange and dissemination, showcased tips for efficient online communication, and identified the best ways to target specific stakeholders. 

Presentations from the webinar and background documents can be found here.