31 Amendments of Colm MARKEY related to 2021/2254(INI)
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 14 a (new)
Citation 14 a (new)
— having regard to its resolution of 8 March 2022 on the role of cohesion policy in promoting innovative and smart transformation and regional ICT connectivity (2021/2101(INI));
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 19 a (new)
Citation 19 a (new)
— having regard to the "Bled Declaration for a Smarter Future of the Rural Areas in EU", signed on 13 April 2018 in Bled, Slovenia;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses that policies and actions at EU level combined with national and regional ones are key to securing the prosperity and well-being of rural European citizens, as well as tackling the challenges they face, namely population decline and ageing, fewer quality job opportunities, a lack of access to high- quality services of general interest, climate and environmental pressures, lower connectivity, particularly lack of high- speed broadband, and limited access to innovation;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Highlights the central role rural areas can play in addressing societal challenges, by providing ecosystem services to mitigate climate change and environmental deterioration, ensuring sustainable food production, preserving rural heritage, andproviding unique cultural landscapes for leisure and recreation purposes, as well as contributing to a just, green and digital transition;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses that rural areas are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of crisis, such as the COVID pandemic and the war in Ukraine but are also capable of offering new opportunities in response to such crisis; emphasises that rural areas have a key role in ensuring food security as well as independence from fossil fuels or energy imports;
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Stresses the importance of implementing a rural proofing mechanism for EU initiatives so as to assess their potential impact on rural areas; urges the Member States to promote the development and implementation of effective mechanisms for rural proofing at national level and calls on the Commission to assist them; emphasises that the rural proofing mechanism should be made mandatory, so that regional, national and EU authorities and institutions would be obliged to take into account the impacts of proposed legislation, which is particularly impacting rural areas, on such areas;
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Insists that rural citizens must benefit, like any other citizen, from equitable conditions for achieving their professional, social and personal goals, with a particular focus on more vulnerable groups, thereby effectively upholding the European Pillar of Social Rights; stresses that targeted interventions fostering effective generational renewal are essential; highlights that maintaining basic public services such as post offices, a police presence, and the strategic location of ambulance bases to provide adequate emergency response to rural areas, are crucial to ensuring the social and economic sustainability of rural areas.
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Underlines the need to support young people in order for them to remain in rural areas; stresses that particular attention should be paid to overcoming the challenges of young people in their access to capital, higher education, lack of business skills and insufficient succession plans; points our that encouraging farm succession, including young farmers in a policy mix, from housing, social security, health services to education should be a priority; stresses the need to maintain a high-quality agricultural education system, including vocational training;
Amendment 221 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Notes the potential of onshore and offshore renewable energy in providing crucial jobs and investment to rural areas, and the resulting multiplier effect to the local economy. Highlights the potential of the TEN-E Regulation to facilitate the development of renewable energy capabilities in rural areas.
Amendment 226 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Underlines the central role agriculture plays in rural areas; insists that sustainable agriculture in ensuring high-quality, diverse and sufficient food and biomass resources in a sustainable manner, in providing jobs and cultural landscape for recreational use; insists that sustainable agriculture, in its three pillars (economic, environmental, social), providing fair income to farmers, is crucial for the vitality of these territories;
Amendment 238 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Underlines the central role agriculture plays in rural areas; insists that sustainable agriculture, providing fair income to farmers, is crucial for the vitality of these territories; Stresses the value of carbon farming for rural communities and the importance of a carbon farming model that facilitates the investment of both public and private funding.
Amendment 272 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Stresses that diversification of and innovation in the rural economy based on local potential are crucial to drawing opportunities from the digital and green transition; calls on the Member States to put in place measures to support the fair transition and diversification of the rural economy, as well as to support job creation in rural areas;
Amendment 310 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Highlights the central role of rural areas in the transition to a low-carbon and digital economy; stresses that initiatives in rural areas, such as renewable energy infrastructure,, investments in high-speed broadband infrastructure and bioeconomy must contribute effectively to the economic and social vitality of such areas;
Amendment 320 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Notes the importance of microgeneration on farms; stresses that farmers must not be disadvantaged from supplying electricity into the grid as a result of the use of public grants, including the CAP;
Amendment 330 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Highlights that rural areas suffer higher risks of social exclusion and energy poverty owing to longer distances to be covered and mobility constraints; points out that new and innovative rural mobility solutions and investments are needed to achieve equitable growth, in harmony with a sustainable energy transition;
Amendment 336 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Highlights the importance of access to basic services in rural areas; emphasises the need for innovative approaches in the field of mobility, education, child care and elderly care as well as by tackling the healthcare challenges;
Amendment 338 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Highlights the need to ensure greater coordination between the TEN-E and TEN-T Regulations in order that we more effectively address climate challenges.
Amendment 342 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18b. Calls for the TEN-T Regulation to prioritise connecting isolated and disconnected areas, especially those dependent on accessibility through third countries.
Amendment 344 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Stresses that the digital transition brings about new opportunities for rural areas, which are only accessible if there is adequate, stable and accessible broadband coverage; highlights that the development of digital capacities in rural areas is, among other things, linked to an increase in their attractiveness; warns of the risks of the widening of the rural digital gap as a result of the lack of 5G coverage, and calls on Member States to mobilise all available instruments to prevent it; stresses the importance of the timely revision of the state aid guidelines for broadband which should allow for incentivising the roll-out of 5G networks in rural areas which are not served by the market;
Amendment 352 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Welcomes the objective of the 2030 Digital Policy Programme that by the end of the decade all populated areas in the EU should be covered by 5G; calls on the Commission to promote, as part of upcoming legislation, measures that ease the roll-out of 5G networks in rural areas in particular through reducing or removing burdensome and lengthy administrative procedures;
Amendment 365 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Draws the attention to the situation of livestock producers who live in regions recently repopulated and colonised by large carnivore species and who are under constant attack and at risk of attack by large carnivores, in protecting their livelihoods and homes from Europe's ever increasing population of large carnivores; emphasises that effective population management measures are urgently needed in order to guarantee the economic vitality of affected regions, ensure biodiversity and prevent rural abandonment;
Amendment 391 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Emphasises the swift implementation of the Connecting Europe Facility as a key enabler of cross-border network deployment, which will in turn have a positive impact on connectivity in rural areas;
Amendment 392 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Urges Member States to address the specific challenges of rural areas during the implementation of the current multiannual financial framework programmes and to provide the investments needed for social inclusion and job creation, in order to foster competitiveness and enable a just digital and green transition; calls to focus in particular on the roll-out of smart villages post-2020 and rural innovation hubs to contribute to the digitalisation of rural areas;
Amendment 402 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Calls for smart villages to be mentioned as a flagship project, rather than action under the “research and innovation for rural areas” flagship; underlines the importance of public - private partnerships within the smart villages ecosystem, as key opportunities for job creation, innovation, depopulation and rural attractiveness; believes that the Smart Cities Marketplace* digital platform, established by the Commission, could serve as a blueprint for further development of the smart villages ecosystem, therefore encourages the Commission to coordinate further development of smart villages in the same manner as was the case of the initiatives for smart cities; *https://smart-cities- marketplace.ec.europa.eu/
Amendment 404 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Notes the potential of transforming disused public and commercial buildings, such as banks, into remote working hubs.
Amendment 406 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 b (new)
Paragraph 22 b (new)
22b. Stresses the potential of an EU renovation wave to restore derelict buildings, provide accommodation for young people, and make rural areas and towns more attractive and vibrant to live in; notes the employment potential of such a renovation wave and calls for training schemes in the area of retrofitting to support the transition. Calls on Member States to create the necessary regulatory framework to facilitate the development of these buildings.
Amendment 407 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 b (new)
Paragraph 22 b (new)
Amendment 411 #
23. Regrets the persistent obstacles to the multi-fund approach, which hamper the deployment of integrative approaches in rural areas; calls on the Commission to improve synergies and coordination between EU funding instruments, such as the regional and cohesion policy, the Common Agricultural Policy, and the Next Generation EU recovery instrument, and with national instruments, and to pursue simplification, in particular for smaller projects, which are key for rural areas;
Amendment 441 #
26. Stresses that empowering rural communities, which requires capacity building, particularly in the most remote and less populated areas, will promote greater social cohesion and a stronger sense of belonging; emphasises that strong and vital rural communities, as well as municipalities and regions that mainly cover rural areas, are crucial for the cohesion within the EU, therefore they should be supported in any way possible;
Amendment 485 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 a (new)
Paragraph 30 a (new)
30a. Recognises the need for a food systems approach which acknowledges the integrated nature of food, environmental and health policy, with the three elements of economic, environmental and social sustainability at its core;
Amendment 506 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 a (new)
Paragraph 33 a (new)
33a. Notes the difficulties posed by Brexit to isolated rural communities in certain Member States and calls for particular attention to be paid to their needs.