Rural development: first wave of approvals of national/regional proposals for using funding from CAP Health Check and European Economic Recovery Plan

The Rural Development Committee approved a first wave of proposals from Member States/regions for using fresh European Union funding for rural development. The Member States/regions in question have proposed amendments to their Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) to make use of extra funding provided by the Health Check of the Common Agricultural Policy and the European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP), agreed in November 2008. The extra funding in question totals € 4.4 billion for the EU as a whole and must be spent through RDPs in the period 2009 to 2013. Member States/regions choose the priorities on which to spend their funding from a list which includes climate change, restructuring of the dairy sector and broadband for rural areas. "The current economic and environmental situation demands action – in the countryside just as much as in our towns and cities," said Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development. "We have been taking determined action at European level in many ways. The...
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