(09 September 2014) – The Directorate-General for Agriculture of the European Commission (DG AGRI) has contracted the “Ruranet” EEIG, made up of five partner organisations including AEIDL, to manage the Contact Point of the European Network for Rural Development (ENRD) during the 2014-2020 period.
The purpose of the ENRD is to increase the involvement of all stakeholders (in particular in agriculture, forestry and rural development) in the implementation of the EU rural development policy; to improve the quality of rural development programmes; and to play a role in informing the broader public on the benefits of rural development policy.
Ruranet is an equal partnership of five organisations with complementary skills and expertise: AEIDL, Grupo Alba, IEEP (Institute for European Environmental Policy), Metis GmbH, and Rural Development Company.
They all bring direct experience of running relevant EU networks and facilities, a strong understanding of rural development policies and their implementation, an innovative approach to both networking and communication, roots in different parts of Europe and a well-established presence in Brussels.
A permanent team of nine persons will work for the ENRD Contact Point, the first activities of which began in July 2014.