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The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has now published the key recommendations and workshop reports from the Civil Society Days (CSDs) that took place on 26-27 June and in which PURPLE President, Helyn Clack, had taken part (see article here).

The report on Workshop 2 on ‘Rural-Urban dimensions: towards more territorial and social cohesion’ in which Mrs Clack was a panellist highlights calls for a more cohesive Europe where “people living in rural, remote and peri-urban areas are not economically and socially disadvantaged as compared to people living in the cities and towns”. It proposes to achieve this through political recognition of rural areas and their needs; a rural agenda to be implemented at national and regional levels through a rural fund pooling existing sources of rural development funding; and though the provision of new technologies, infrastructure (such as broadband) as well as investments into human development and skills.

Six overall key recommendations emerged from the discussions at CSDs. Two of these recommendations echo points highlighted in workshop 2, with the CSDs’ participants asking that EU institutions “Stick to the objective of territorial and social cohesion to overcome the disparities between and within the Members States” and “adopt a rural agenda in recognition of the specific needs in order to ensure territorial cohesion”. All six recommendations are available here and opening and closing sessions as well as workshop reports can be downloaded from the EESC website.