With the renewed academic interest in economic geography and the advent of information technology, territorial development is increasingly analysed in ways which revise stereotypes and deepen understanding of the dynamics at work.

Rural areas are no exception to this rule. The OECD has recently published a report on the new rural paradigm. It should decrease negative perceptions of rural areas as places of disadvantage and decline, and encourage these areas to emphasise the value of their natural and cultural assets.

For the European Union, the CAP’s recently adopted «health check» carefully avoided questioning the need to adapt support for non-agricultural activity, despite the major change in the socio-economic climate in 2008.

At the same time, the debate which surrounded the green paper on territorial cohesion – a future competency conferred on the EU by the Lisbon Treaty – revealed the difficulties experienced by rural areas in their efforts at harmonious development, in the absence of a coherent framework for sectoral policies.

Predominantly rural regions1 contain a little less than 20% of Europe’s population but cover more than 50% of Europe’s land surface and therefore have considerable importance, particularly with regard to new policies for sustainable development.

Preparations for the budget revision announced for 2008-09 continue to be postponed and interested parties expect a thorough re-examination of certain European policies at that time.

This policy brief analyses the needs of rural areas and proposes an adaptation of the European policy, including its administration, in order better to respond to these needs.

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