Rural and regional development policy in Estonia

This paper reviews Estonia's rural and regional development policies, gives an overview of the current administrative division, rural and regional development policy objectives and instruments in light of EU accession. The main institutions influencing rural and regional development in Estonia are the key ministries (the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry responsible for Regional Affairs, and the Ministry of Agriculture), as well as the local and county governments. Rural and regional development policies are influenced by the possible accession of Estonia to the EU, therefore besides the national scheme on rural and agricultural development supports, the pre-accession instrument SAPARD is targeted to fulfilling the policy objectives. With regards to EU accession, Estonia will become Objective I area. In order to become eligible for support under E U Structural Funds and the EAGGF Guarantee Fund, Estonia is preparing two programme documents: Single Programming Document 2004-2006 and Rural Development Plan 2004-2006, which set the strategy, priorities, objectives, and instruments for the allocation of EU funds in Estonia.