Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the conference on rural development held in Cork from 7 to 9 November 1996 set rural development as one of the European Union’s priorities since it is essential in order to maintain the existence and continued development of agriculture, to provide farmers with an environment containing the necessary infrastructure and services, and to ensure greater respect for the environment and a better quality of life, diversification and job creation. An integrated development policy for all rural areas in the European Union is therefore needed, consisting of the following elements: an integrated, multi-sectoral approach, simplification of administrative procedures, improvement of the partnership between European institutions and national and local actors and protection of the environment. In its 1998 policy paper, Agenda 2000, the Commission set out two key principles on which rural development policy should be based: the recognition of the multifunctionality of agriculture and the need for an integrated strategy for developing rural areas. The first principle means creating a new ‘pact’ between farmers and society, making the farmer ‘steward of the countryside’ and ensuring that society is prepared to pay for the environmental services needed to safeguard the countryside’s recreation value. The second principle is based on the fact that nowadays many of the job opportunities in rural areas are outside the traditional agricultural sector, so that a complete development programme which integrates rural development policies with agricultural sector policies needs to be implemented. In this way rural development is becoming a pillar of the CAP. The LEADER Community initiative was launched in 1991 to promote a new bottom-up approach to rural development and to diversify measures by adapting them to local needs. The following objectives were set: improving the development potential of rural areas by calling upon local initiative; promoting the acquisition of knowledge in the rural development sector; disseminating this knowledge to other rural areas. LEADER I applied to the rural areas covered by Structural Fund Objectives 1 and 5b, and 217 local action groups participated in it, with financing of EUR 1 155 million. LEADER II (1994-1999), for which a total evaluation has, unfortunately, not yet been completed, had a wider scope than LEADER I: there were probably over 800 beneficiaries and the sums allocated, after reallocation of resources, probably amounted to over EUR 4 000 million. In October 1999, following the success of LEADER I and LEADER II, the Commission decided to extend the initiative. For the 2000-2006 period provision has been made, unfortunately, only for a total contribution of EUR 2 020 million, and an indicative allocation for each Member State has been set. LEADER+ differs from the previous stages in that all rural areas will be eligible. It is also more ambitious, and better geared to the challenges which rural areas will have to meet. The main changes are as follows: all rural areas will be eligible to benefit from LEADER+; the selection criteria for local measures will be more rigorous; integrated local development plans will be introduced as priority themes, such as the use of information technology, improving the quality of life, and adding value to local products. I therefore approve of the continuation of the initiative because, as I was saying, it emphasises the innovative development strategies and because it is more ambitious, even though there is still the need to make the criteria by which areas qualify as rural more flexible so as not to penalise rural areas with high or low population densities. I believe the networking system to be vital for the exchange of information and skills and for the implementation of joint projects between different areas of the Union and I repeat that in order to be fully successful it must exploit inter alia measures already in existence, such as the Carrefours. I share the Commission’s preference for the use of global grants while urging, however, that the accounting requirements of national and regional authorities should be precisely and painstakingly defined. I regret the delay with which LEADER, as was the case with the other three initiatives, was presented to Parliament and for the knock-on delay this entailed for the whole procedure. Finally, I am concerned by the paucity of the amount allocated, if you consider, in addition, that this time the programme is available to all the countries of the Union and will be implemented for a year longer than the previous LEADER II. I would like to thank the Commission services for their helpfulness and cooperation, and I would like to thank my colleagues in the Committee on Agriculture for the contribution they have made through their amendments.

Political group: ELDR