Regional and local development
Self-government’s actions – RDP 2007-2013
Development of agriculture, rural areas and agricultural markets in Poland is strictly connected with the financial assistance from the European Union. The use of EU assistance is currently one of the most important ways of rural development. Thanks to it rural development has gathered speed both in the national and regional dimension.
Local self-government units have played and still will play an extremely important role in the development of rural areas in Poland. They carry out tasks in the field of fulfilling social, educational and cultural needs of rural inhabitants and preservation of cultural heritage. They also play a leading role in technical infrastructure development (roads, sewage system, communication, rubbish dumps, communal services) in rural areas. Local self-government units took part in successful implementation of the pre-accession Programme SAPARD and also SOP “Restructuring and modernization of the food sector and rural development 2004-2006”.
Nowadays the voivodship self-governments are responsible for implementation of the measures within the framework of the Rural Development Programme 2007-2013 (RDP 2007-2013). The amount allocated to the measures amounts to 17 217 817 440 EUR of public resources (including 6 074 285 560 EUR to self-governments’ actions). Additionally, Poland received about 170 million EUR from EU funds for implementation of so-called “new challenges”, out of which about 59,11 million EUR was allocated to improvement of the access to the wide-spectrum internet, about 3,8 million EUR to the sources of renewable energy and about 33,79 EUR to the measures regarding improvement and development of infrastructure.
Within the framework of RDP 2007-2013 the voivodship self-governments have been implementing the measures: Basic services for rural economy and inhabitants, Renewal and development of rural areas, Improvement and development of infrastructure connected with the development and adaptation of agriculture and forestry – Scheme I Land merging and II Management of water resources in rural areas, as well as the measures of the Leader Axis, that is: Implementation of Local Development Strategies (for operations that meet conditions of granting aid within the framework of the measure “Renewal and development of rural areas”), Implementation of cooperation projects and functioning of a Local Action Group, gaining skills and activation. Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture is responsible for implementation of the measure “Implementation of Local Development Strategies for operations that meet conditions of granting aid within the framework of the measures “Differentiating towards non-agricultural activities” and “Establishment and development of microenterprises”.
Beneficiaries are interested in self-government’s actions very much. During the first application procedure within the framework of the measure “Renewal and development of rural areas” almost all granted funds were used up in the majority of voivodships. Within the measure “Basic services for rural economy and inhabitants” the demand for financial resources during the first application procedure significantly exceeded the available allocation. There has been quite a big interest within the framework of the measure “Improvement and development of infrastructure connected with the development and adaptation of agriculture and forestry” in spite of the specificity of the investments implemented within that scope, which are characterized by many years’ period of formal preparations and implementation. Within the framework of the Leader Axis there was finalized a competition on selection of Local Action Groups (LAGs). 338 LAGs were chosen. Moreover, there were signed the first agreements within the measure “Functioning of a Local Action Group, gaining skills and activation”. LAGs announced competitions on selection of projects within the framework of the operation for the measure “Implementation of local development strategies”.
A big interest in self-government’s actions gives potential guarantee that expected objectives will be achieved. Bearing in mind experiences of the previous programming period we can risk the statement that RDP 2007-2013 will have an essential influence on economic situation in Poland and self-government’s actions will take active part in this process. The Programme will be efficient everywhere - regions will gain advantages regardless of the amount of allocated resources.
