(27 May 2021) – With the upcoming and much awaited EU ‘Long-term Vision for rural areas’, AEIDL, in the context of the SHERPA project, has contributed to the development of a position paper on the vision for the future of rural areas.

Through a network of 20 Multi-Actor Platforms setup within the project, SHERPA has sought to gather meaningful input from relevant local, regional and national actors, and bring forward key messages regarding the future of rural areas.
Looking at challenges and opportunities for rural areas towards 2040, there is a strong call for mechanisms to ensure that rural matters are addressed in a coordinated and coherent manner in all areas of policy.
The hope is for the future ‘Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas’ to reflect the outcomes of this exercise, setting out the principles and instruments for achieving the vision overall, and its realisation at different territorial levels.
The European Commission is expected to publish a Communication on the ‘Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas’ at the end of June 2021.