Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva

Faced with ever greater abandonment of villages, Europe must provide investments and implement a policy that will make agriculture more attractive, particularly to young people. The political uncertainty due to an inconsistent agricultural policy of the European Union, however, is putting off investors.

Rural areas comprise more than half the surface area of the EU, but they are not meeting their economic and social potential. Unemployment is high, and the population is ever older, due to an increasing number of youth moving to cities in search of new opportunities.

For those remaining in the villages, insufficient investments into infrastructure limit economic development, making it even harder to convince young people that life in a village can provide a future worth staying for. Less than half of rural areas have access to broadband internet, making it difficult for farmers to develop their business and introduce innovation.

At a time of increasing pressure on the budget for the Common Agricultural Policy and when UK’s exit from the EU could leave a large gap in financing beyond 2020, it is more important than ever to ensure that farmers have benefits from a number of EU policies, outside the Common Agricultural Policy.

Source: EURACTIV.com, taken from www.euractiv.rs