Rural areas and communities in the post-2027 EU budget and policies

• To enable participants’ understanding of the implications (risks and opportunities) of the EU budget proposals and facilitate a positive outcome of the negotiations for rural areas.
• To facilitate an early reflection on the future implementation of the new policy framework, and involve Member State authorities in strategic thinking about synergies with the rural vision and Pact at national and regional levels.

The event will take place in Brussels in English with no interpretation.

Background

The publication on 16 July 2025 of the European Commission’s proposals for the 2028-2034 EU budget and related policies initiates a broad discussion about the role of rural areas in these post-2027 EU policies. The proposals include significant changes in the architecture of support instruments and their funding sources. One example is grouping all policies managed at the Member State level, including rural development policy, under National and Regional Partnership Plans funded through a single fund. This new fund – the European Fund for economic, social and territorial cohesion, agriculture and rural, fisheries and maritime, prosperity and security – will aim to improve synergies and complementarities between various domains of policy action.

Following the publication of the Commission’s proposals, the negotiation process with co-legislators – the EU Council and the European Parliament – has begun, which will lead to the adoption of final texts in several months. In parallel, Member States will start thinking about how they would use these policies in practice, and rural stakeholders will be invited to engage in consultations, as foreseen in the proposals. This will therefore be a period of intensive dialogue between policymakers, civil society organisations and other stakeholders.