Hello and welcome to our September Newsletter.
As we settle into the more typical pace of work, the terrain seems a little different. A new cycle of generating a new CAP is beginning. And yet, this time, it seems farming and rural areas are not the EU priority they once were.
The signs are everywhere, yet they exist mostly in the background. They ripple as whispers at events like the Cork 2.0 Rural Development Conference held Monday and Tuesday of this week.
This follow up event to the establishment of Pillar 2 of CAP - 1996's Cork 1 - was an altogether more sober and somber affair than its predecessor.
Then the EU was expanding.The Declaration Cork 1 produced even made reference to no re-nationalisation of the CAP. Now, movements opposing the EU are popping up everywhere, including in rural areas: somehow, most UK farmers voted for Brexit. The countryside faces further disenfranchisement as the EU Commission de-emphasises rural investment. This is not a recipe to stem the rise of these new, inward looking tendencies. After all, so many of these trends are expressed in rural regions, from Carlisle to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Just what EU policy makers will, as it were, make and do with rural development will emerge in the coming years. We will track it - and we will input.
For more, see our two recent articles on the Cork events,
here and
here.
In a context of this EU rural de-prioritisation, of the emergence of other huge challenges - from the refugee crisis to climate change - actors in rural areas and elsewhere will have to step up to the plate and make of the situation what they can, with creativity.
Expect many more farmers in the streets than in the current dairy crisis between now and the next CAP.
In rural, social, farming and environmental solidarity!
Dr. Oliver Moore and Luise Körner (Communications Team, ARC2020)