Rural areas need urgent attention

Rural areas across the European Union face growing challenges: an ageing population, youth outmigration, economic stagnation, limited access to services, and increasing pressures from geopolitical shifts. These regions are also at the forefront of critical EU priorities, including food security, climate adaptation, and territorial cohesion. For Europe to thrive, its rural areas must remain vibrant, resilient, and well-connected.

Border regions are experiencing heightened security concerns, along with population loss, competitiveness and social issues, demanding stronger local networks and economic stability. Meanwhile, young people need compelling reasons to stay—opportunities for education, jobs, culture, and social life. Without dynamic local economies, rural youth will continue to leave, weakening communities and reducing the sustainability of rural life. The EU has repeatedly emphasised the right to stay in rural areas—ensuring that living in the countryside remains a viable and attractive choice.

 

At the heart of these challenges lies an opportunity: participatory development tools that empower local people to shape their own future.

For over 30 years, LEADER and community-led local development (CLLD) have demonstrated that bottom-up, participatory approaches can successfully address rural challenges. Through Local Action Groups (LAGs), these tools mobilise local knowledge, build social capital, and implement innovative solutions tailored to each community’s specific needs.

LEADER/CLLD provides:

• Economic opportunities: supporting small businesses, sustainable tourism, digital innovation, and local food systems.
• Youth retention: creating local jobs, training programmes, and services that make rural areas attractive places to live and work, reinforcing the right to stay.
• Social innovation: enabling rural communities to develop solutions for essential services, green transitions, and cultural vitality. 
• Stronger EU integration: making LAGs real points of contact with Europe, enhancing democratic participation, and countering rural euroscepticism. 
• Social capital: the process of participatory development greatly increases the social capital of areas taking part in it, which in turn leads to a better quality of life in our rural areas

 

A fair deal for rural Europe: our demands, the solution 

Rural areas represent 80% of the EU’s territory and are home to approximately 30% of its population. Despite their critical importance and the success of LEADER-CLLD, they are being asked to do more with less funding. Additionally, amidst the challenges that the EU is currently facing, we must not forget that rural areas are a priority. Without thriving rural areas, there will be no Europe. To fully harness the potential of participatory rural development, we call on the European Commission to:

1. Make participatory rural development tools mandatory across all EU member states in the next multiannual financial framework (MFF), ensuring that leader/CLLD remains a core pillar of EU territorial policies.
2. Integrate LEADER/CLLD into multiple EU policies and protect its budgetary allocation with earmarking, including the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and Cohesion Policy, recognising that rural development extends beyond agriculture. With this, a clear definition of what rural development encompasses must be advertised.
3. Strengthen and recognise the role of Local Action Groups (LAGs) as key facilitators of EU policies at the local level, and as key stakeholders in preventing and fighting disinformation, making them recognised partners in governance and European integration efforts. 
4. Simplify access to funding by reducing administrative burdens and ensuring multi-fund mechanisms support efficient, community-led initiatives, along with the EU’s commitment to reducing red tape from member states and enhancing local governance capacity.
5. Increase funding for LEADER-CLLD, at a level that matches its proven impact and expanded role in tackling rural challenges

These demands are all in line with the long-term vision for rural areas (LTVRA), the Rural Pact declaration, and the Vision for Agriculture and Food 2040, itself flowing from the Strategic Dialogue on the future of Agriculture and Food, which have all set ambitious goals for stronger, connected, resilient, and prosperous rural territories. We fully support these commitments and urge the European commission to translate them into concrete actions by prioritising LEADER/CLLD within the next multiannual financial framework (MFF).

Europe cannot afford to leave rural communities behind. We demand concrete action to embed LEADER/CLLD at the core of EU policies, ensuring territorial cohesion, economic competitiveness, democratic resilience, and effective rural crisis response. 

 

Sign this petition to ensure that rural voices are heard, and that participatory development remains at the heart of EU policy!

 

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