Euromontana attended on 12th March 2015 in Strasbourg the meeting where the Rural, Mountainous and Remote Areas (RUMRA) Intergroup was officially launched by Mercedes Bresso, MEP and Chair of the Intergroup. This event marked an opening of a forum dedicated to regions often underrepresented in public dialogue.
The main aims of this newly created intergroup, which received a large, cross-party support in the European Parliament are:
• To represent the voice of people and businesses existing in non-urbanised areas of Europe in the legislative discussions in Brussels and Strasbourg.
• To highlight capacities and initiatives of economic, social, environmental and inclusion innovation of these territories.
• To address all aspects of the rural economy and society equally and proportionally.
• To raise awareness of the European Parliament’s contribution to improving the wellbeing of citizens living in rural, mountain and remote areas.
• To reduce the gap and improve the interrelations between urban and rural areas.
• Integrated and transversal approach to address rural issues within the EP and effectively deal with all the aspects of the development of rural, mountains and remote areas.
Regarding the organisation of the Intergroup, there are six different subgroups, namely:
• Resource and financing for rural integrated development
• RURBAN (Rural and urban interrelations)
• Climate change and Energy
• Living nowadays in rural areas (community, Rural Tourism)
• Territorial quality products
• Ultra peripheral and remote regions
Euromontana will lead the two themes on “Living nowadays in rural areas” and “Territorial quality products”
This is the second time that the European parliament has a specific intergroup dedicated to mountain areas. Euromontana hopes that this intergroup will be a success and will bring a lot to mountain communities.
Please, also note that in the coming weeks a dedicated website about The Rural, Mountainous and Remote Areas (RUMRA) Intergroup will be launched. In the meanwhile, you can contact the secretariat of the Intergroup, Future of Rural Energy in Europe (FREE) or Euromontana directly.
24 March 2015
