Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)

Summary:

The Council of the European Union of 11 and 12 December 2008 agreed on a European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP), which envisages the initiation of priority action to  enable European economies to adjust more rapidly to current challenges, based on an effort equivalent in total to around 1.5% of European Union GDP (a figure amounting to around EUR 200 billion). Out of this amount, EUR 1.5 billion should be made available to all Member States via the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) with a view to developing broadband internet in rural areas and to strengthen the new challenges as defined in the context of the assessment of the 2003 midterm reform of the Common Agricultural Policy – the "Health Check" – which was completed in November 2008. One third of this amount (EUR 0.5 billion) should be spent on new challenges related operations and two thirds (EUR 1 billion) on developing broadband internet infrastructure in rural areas.