The role of rural development in the common agricultural policy

Throughout its long history, the CAP has witnessed a continuous series of changes. Today, many elements have emerged with force and imply the necessity of a new phase of redefinition for the CAP. Among the factors to be taken into consideration, there are the next round of WTO negotiations on international trade, EU enlargement and increased EU trade with non-Member countries. In addition to economic factors, we should highlight the profound changes in European public opinion. With the citizen/consumer very attentive to issues related to the environment, food security, biological production, treatment of animals, the EU is required to provide increasingly advanced policy responses. In this context, there is a need to radically restructure the CAP. This restructuration should address both the role of agricultural enterprises (as a tool to reach CAP objectives) and the objectives of rural development. In this framework, rural development should be understood as a means to sustainable development, synthesising the cross-sectoral needs of the environment, health, landscape and territory in coherence with the new requirements of today's CAP.