Community-led Local Development and Smart Villages as Innovative Tools for Effective Development of the Rural Areas

For rural areas, European funding (RRF, cohesion funds, CAP, other funds for specific policies) is a very important source of financing for investment in physical and human capital.
The CoR is therefore taking steps to ensure that the debate on the future of the rural areas will be mainstreamed into political discussions and that the voice of European rural local and regional authorities will be heard in this debate. In order to strengthen this voice, it is important to highlight the rural development achievements. The LEADER/CLLD method, and the systematic development of Smart Villages as a horizontal policy with support from different funds have proven to be a successful concept.

This seminar will be part of the Presidency of the Czech Republic in the Council of the EU and will be organized jointly by the NAT commission of the CoR and the European Parliament Intergroup RUMRA/Smart Villages. It is closely connected to the Long-term vision for the EU’s rural areas, published at the end of June 2021. The seminar will represent an important contribution to the Rural Pact process launched in June 2022 and builds on the conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe. It is also connected to the start of implementation of the programming period 2021-2027 in most of the member states, introducing Smart Villages as a new EU policy and promoting wider use of territorial instruments and integrated approaches like LEADER/CLLD.

The European Committee of the Regions actively participates in drawing up new directions, which are of utmost importance for European rural areas. This seminar will therefore be a very good opportunity to complement the position of the NAT commission and the CoR by providing information on what has been achieved and what are the priorities for the future of EU rural development policy.

Other partners will be MEP Stanislav Polčák (EPP), the Ministry of the Regional Development of the Czech Republic, the European Smart Villages Forum, and the European LEADER Association for Rural Development (ELARD).

Please find Draft Agenda CLLD Smart Villages Seminar

Interested stakeholders to attend the seminar should register on the following link:

https://forms.gle/NceP2BzsWD2Gt4ya6