Rural areas development debate – what will politicians do to help develop Bulgarian village?

ARP will be represented in the debate by Magarchich Hulian (rural areas expert), and moderator will be Ivan Bedrov. At this time, participation has been confirmed by guest politicians Vili Lilkov from Reformist Bloc (MP, member of parliamentary commission for the environment and waters) and Svetlana Alexandrova from BSP (director of Rural Areas Development Directorate, Ministry of Agriculture and Foods in Oresharski Government). We expect confirmation from Zelenite PP.

During the debate on Rural Areas Development we will discuss the following issues:
- How will rural areas get greener in the context of Rural Areas Development Program 2014-2020?
- Better access to public services – what measures and instruments will be used to help people in rural areas?
- What concrete suggestions for relieving the administrative burden and simplifying the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) for small and medium farmers will politicians make?
- How shall we stimulate small and medium farmers to come out of the grey economy, instruments and measures?

In 2014-2015 a gradual transition on European policies in rural areas development has been conducted, and the member states have been preparing the general application of the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which provides them with considerable maneuvering opportunities.

This is a time when every country chooses what agriculture and what rural areas it needs to develop during the program period, and in what and how it will use EU funds. This is a time when politicians should design their programs and define which are the important for Bulgaria steps and decisions. On the backdrop of poor in concrete measures pre-election programs in September 2014, let us see how far political initiatives for Bulgarian village have reached by April 2015.
More on the completed monitoring within the framework of the project on rural areas can be accessed in the online platform www.zelenizakoni.com in the corresponding thematic section.