Necessity for integration of agricultural, regional and environmental policy for disadvantaged rural areas

Siegfried Bauer

Dept. Project and Regional Planning, University of Giessen, Germany

This paper deals with the various policy instruments that apply in rural areas. These instruments lack integration and harmonisation, and thus tend to lead to conflicts, counteractive effects, and low efficiency, which limits their effectiveness in the development of rural areas.

The concept of sustainability offers a comprehensive approach to integrate the environmental, economic and social needs of a society as a whole, and of the disadvantaged rural areas. From an environmental point of view, it is important to consider the main negative and positive effects of agriculture, and the various production techniques applied. As argued elsewhere, a comprehensive policy should include taxes for environmentally-damaging inputs and production techniques on the one hand, and provide subsidies for environmentally positive actions on the other.

Regional policy should also be re-arranged in relation to basic needs. A new policy should include inter-regional compensation payments for inter-regional environmental remote effects (positive and negative effects) and general financial compensations according to generally-accepted social criteria. Following the principles of a federal policy system, a reform is also needed according to the financial and policy-making responsibilities at the various policy levels. The real problems are best known at the local or regional level. Therefore, local decisions in regional development strategies should be made at a local level, e.g. investments in local infrastructure, subsidies for direct marketing and processing, subsidies for investments outside agriculture or for the creation of tourism facilities etc. A re-arrangement is required of decision-making and financial responsibility from the EU to the local level