Montenegro Rural Parliament holds its inaugural meeting

This first meeting of Montenegro’s Rural Parliament brought together a cross section of national stakeholders, who were joined by peers from other countries in the western Balkans as well as EU rural development experts. Parliament delegates heard from an EU CAP Network presentation about the similarities that exist across rural Europe in relation to challenges and opportunities. EU funding provided to Montenegro through IPARD is being programmed to help strengthen the resilience of the country’s rural economy, which supports a large proportion of the overall population.

Possibilities such as building better food value chains and promoting local product ranges were highlighted during the Parliament meeting, which also stressed the importance of recognising the role of women in Montenegro’s food systems. Improving training and employment and income for everyone in the countryside will help tackle both inequalities and depopulation pressures.

Support for rural tourism and culture can be coordinated with agri-food investments to help provide new prospects throughout Montenegro. LEADER will be able to assist and the Parliament received an update on developments with new Local Action Groups (LAGs) that are being planned. Improving youth employment is expected to be a common goal for Montenegro LAGs and these will be able to cooperate with LEADER initiatives in the EU Member States.

Scope for more systemic rural development approaches emerged as a key message from the first Rural Parliament meeting, which will continue to act as ‘the voice of the population of rural Montenegro’ during the 2023-2027 programming period.