Support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and amending and repealing certain Regulations - Montesquieu Institute

OBJECTIVE: the proposed regulation forms part of the group of proposals on the reform of the

common agricultural policy and translates the guidelines of Agenda 2000 on rural policy, agri-environmental policy and economic and social cohesion.

SUBSTANCE: the new regulation on Community support for rural development by the EAGGF

seeks to establish an effective instrument to accompany and complement the proposed reforms in

market and price policy. It will replace the EAGGF Structural Funds Regulation and four Objective

5a regulations, the three accompanying measures regulations and the regulation on structural forestry

support.

The main elements of the proposal are as follows:

The rural development measures, concern in particular, support for structural adjustment of the

farming sector (investment in agricultural holdings, establishment of young farmers, training, early

retirement) and support for farming in less favoured areas. Following a request by the European

Parliament, forestry measures have been extended in the rural development framework. Furthermore,

measures in favour of producer organizations have been realigned towards market policies;

Eligibility criteria for the different measures are inspired by current legislation but include some

important new elements:

• - 

  only certain basic eligibility criteria will be laid down, for most measures, in the Council

framework regulation with the details being decided on at programming level;

• - 

  current eligibility criteria for support in less favoured areas will be modified in order better to

integrate environmental goals into rural development policy;

• - 

  coherence between rural development measures and other instruments of the common agricultural

policy or other Community policies will be ensured by specific rules so that overlapping is avoided.

The administrative and financial provisions reflect the Agenda 2000 proposals that Community

support is:

• - 

  programmed under the Structural Funds in those regions qualifying for Objective 1 and Objective

2 support;

• - 

  financed from the 'Guidance' or 'Guarantee' section of the EAGGF according to the measure and

the region.

Two groups of rural development measures have therefore been distinguished:

• - 

  the 1992 accompanying measures (agri-environment, afforestation, early retirement) complemented

by the Less Favoured Areas Scheme;

• - 

  measures concerning modernization and diversification (investment in agricultural holdings,

establishment of young farmers, training, support for investments in processing and marketing

facilities, additional support for forestry and measures promoting the adaptation and reconversion

of agriculture).

• - 

  the 1992 accompanying measures (including the less favoured areas scheme) will be applied

horizontally in all regions of the Community; the Union will co-finance these measures through the

EAGGF Guarantee Section.

• - 

  measures concerning modernization and diversification follow a different approach according to

their regional context: in Objective 1 regions the measures will be financed under the EAGGF

Guidance section. In Objective 2 regions and in all other regions they should fall under the EAGGF

Guarantee section.

Lastly, the state aid rules clarify conditions and procedures for state aids in the field of rural

development support.

The following keywords have been assigned to this dossier: EAGGF Guarantee Section, EAGGF Guidance Section, State aid, aid to agriculture, regional aid, rural development.

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