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Kees de Ruiter Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food QualityDepartment of Rural Areas30 November 2005

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Densely populated: 479 inhabitants per km2. More than half of the population lives in urban areas.

No economic or social need for a specific rural development policy: most rural areas perform economically as well as urban regions.

Problems in rural areas are often related to the (decreasing) quality of the landscape, nature and the environment.

The (man-made) Dutch peri-urban countryside…

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The National Strategy for Rural Development

A balanced set of priorities based on the Dutch situation:

•support for transition of agriculture, esp. for innovation, land consolidation, LFA’s, environmental protection

• maintain and enhance values of nature, landscape and cultural heritage

• development of a sustainable rural economy, with eye for the social fabric and viability

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Synergy of funds

• Structural Funds: some specific regions• Leisure areas nearby cities• Agrifood complex• Natura 2000• Reconstruction of larger rural areas

• EAFRD: all rural areas• Focused on the farmer• Local scale• Wide range of measures

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EU-cofinancing is merely10% of the total budget

spent on rural policy policy in the Netherlands

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Agenda for a living countryside&

Choose for agriculture

• territorial planning

• farmers

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Multi-annual program

• National program with objectives and euro’s

• 12 contracts for 7 years• Yearly registration on

output• Yearly monitoring of

outcome• Continuous dialogue

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New way of implementing rural policy

• Decentralisation of responsibilities and money• For all the policy subjects in rural areas• Simpler and more flexible Space Time

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The role of the provinces

• Director• Tailormade solutions• Mediator• Bottom-up approach

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Investmentbudget: a new start

What can go wrong?- confidence- Brussels?- slow-speed- procedures- confidence

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Simple, clear and lots of common sense