The European Commission will develop a long-term vision for rural areas to enable them to make the most of their potential, which will also benefit Croatian villages and bring back young people, the European Commission's Vice-President Dubravka Suica said on Thursday.

Suica participated in a meeting of the Intergroup on Rural, Mountainous and Remote Areas & Smart Villages dedicated to a long-term vision for rural areas and creating a comprehensive strategy for their development until 2040, the press office of the European People’s Party (EPP) said.

Croatian MEP Tomislav Sokol, vice-president of the intergroup, stressed that the goal of the intergroup was to strengthen territorial cohesion within the European Union, addressing the specific need of rural, mountainous and remote areas.

Rural areas are of the utmost importance for the EU, which depends on them for food, energy and raw materials. In addition, rural areas are a source of creativity and innovation in which a great part of European cultural and natural heritage is based, which needs to be preserved. The importance of this intergroup’s work is exceptional: rural, mountainous and remote areas make up 80% of the territory and nearly 60% of EU population lives in them. As for Croatia, about 90% of the territory is rural and 10% urban, Sokol said.

He stressed that he would personally, and through the intergroup, work on making rural areas attractive and bringing young people back to them.

Suica said that the Commission would develop a long-term strategy for rural areas to enable them to make the most of their potential and support them in facing their unique set of issues, from demographic changes to connectivity, risk of poverty and limited access to services.

A hundred million people in the European Union live in rural areas, half of the territory is rural. Our aim is to offer them a new perspective of a green, digital and demographic transition. It has become less important where you are as long as you are connected, Suica said.

Sokol said that rural, mountainous and remote areas require special commitment and attention and called on the European Commission to adopt the European Rural Agenda with ambitious and concrete political goals that will be transformed into concrete activities on the ground.

By 2040 we will strive to make rural areas become attractive places to live and work in, especially for young people, Sokol said.