High-level Rural Policy Forum

The Commission with the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union explores possibilities to adopt Council conclusions dedicated to the long-term vision for EU’s rural areas at the end of 2023, building on lessons learnt from the first two years of the implementation of the rural vision, in particular the stocktaking on actions carried out and programmed under the common agricultural policy and cohesion policy for 2021-2027.

The High-level Rural Policy Forum is organised by the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission with the Rural Pact Support Office. It offers a bold opportunity to gather key political actors to advance the political agenda for the future of rural areas, prepare a fruitful debate in the Council of the EU, and support Member States to take action to unlock the potential of rural areas in achieving the LTVRA objectives.

Objectives

• Enabling high-level policy exchanges between national authorities to contribute to the conclusions of the Council of the EU on the implementation of the LTVRA;
• Share experiences about how EU policies and funds can best contribute to achieving the rural vision in key policy priority areas for the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU and explore ways how the Rural Pact can add value;
• Establish a dialogue to explore with Member States enhanced multi-level governance frameworks and participatory structures to listen to the voices of rural actors and relevant stakeholders and enhance the design of rural policies that enable them to act in the framework of the Rural Pact.

The Forum will gather 200 participants, targeting primarily policy makers and public authorities at EU and national levels from all 27 Member States involved in the management of EU funds, covering notably EU common agricultural and cohesion policies. It will also count with the participation of EU networks and initiatives, regional and local authorities, stakeholder groups, civil society organisations as well as academic institutions working on policy areas covered by the event, while balancing the countries represented at the Forum.