Making the "Right to Stay" work for local communities

The Rural Pact's forthcoming EU “Right to Stay” Strategy offers a useful lens through which to examine this challenge. The principle does not seek to restrict freedom of movement. It asks whether people have a genuine choice to build their lives in the places they call home—or whether inadequate services, employment, housing, mobility and connectivity effectively compel them to leave. Looking ahead to the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) programming period, the central challenge is not a lack of strategic objectives. It is the persistent gap between European ambitions and what rural communities can actually access, finance and implement. For the next CAP 2028-2034, aligned with the EU’s next seven-year Multi-annual Financial Framework, the question is not simply how to support agriculture. It is how CAP strategic planning can contribute to the wider conditions that make rural areas viable, attractive and resilient places in which to live and work.

An integrated ecosystem

Strategic planning needs to incorporate evidence generated by regulator, rural communities, municipalities, Living Labs, Local Action Groups, social-economy organizations and other territorial actors. These stakeholders understand how policies interact with everyday realities, but their knowledge does not always reach the institutions responsible for designing and financing interventions. The "ability to remain" in a territory means having a genuine and sustainable choice to continue living in one’s community — not being compelled to leave because essential conditions like basic services, opportunities and infrastructure that make it practically possible and personally desirable for people to build a secure life in their community. These include:

• Essential services: healthcare, education, childcare, eldercare and social support.

• Economic security: decent employment, viable businesses, fair income and access to skills.

• Housing: affordable, appropriate and energy-efficient homes.

• Connectivity: reliable transport, broadband and mobile coverage.

• Daily necessities: accessible food shops, banking, postal and administrative services.

• Quality of life: cultural activities, social networks, recreation and a healthy environment.

• Safety and resilience: protection from environmental risks and capacity to respond to crises.

• Voice and agency: meaningful opportunities to influence decisions affecting the territory.

Crucially, these conditions must be accessible, affordable, reliable, and of adequate quality, which currently is not the case across the EU's rural communities that make up over 80% of its territory. The mere existence of a service somewhere in the region does not mean residents can realistically use it. In this context, the “Right to Stay” strategy is not an obligation to remain or an alternative to freedom of movement. It means ensuring that rural residents — particularly young people and women — are not structurally pushed away by a lack of services, opportunities or investment. The success of the strategy will depend on an interconnected ecosystem of conditions: access to essential services, viable employment, affordable housing, mobility, digital connectivity and effective governance. Addressing one factor in isolation is unlikely to reverse demographic decline or territorial disadvantage. Thus, the next CAP should encourage integrated, place-based approaches that connect agricultural and rural development measures with local services, skills, entrepreneurship, social innovation and the Twin Transition of decarbonization and digitalization.

Is "staying" genuinely possible?

European rural depopulation has unfolded gradually over several generations. As populations decline, communities lose essential services, rural industries, employment opportunities and social vitality; leaving has increasingly become a necessity rather than a choice. Thus, the question is not simply whether people want to stay, but whether staying is genuinely possible. Existing strategic-planning guidance remains heavily focused on procedures, outputs and compliance. What is missing is practical support for translating territorial evidence into adequately financed interventions with measurable effects on people’s lives. Infrastructure counts alone are insufficient. A rural community may technically have access to a hospital, school or transport service, but this says little about whether that service is available, reliable, or reachable within a reasonable time. A stronger focus is needed on territorially anchored, outcome-oriented indicators, including:

• travel time to essential services;

• affordability and reliability of mobility;

• quality and usability of services;

• access to employment and skills development;

• digital accessibility;

• user experience and residents’ perceptions;

• demographic and territorial trends.

Such indicators would enable CAP authorities to assess not only what has been funded, but whether interventions have improved the practical conditions that allow people to stay.

Making participation possible for smaller rural actors

A recurring weakness in strategic planning is a lack of adequate resources that can support the participation of rural stakeholders, especially small rural industry actors. Municipalities, community groups and social-economy organisations often possess valuable knowledge but lack the staff and administrative capacity required to navigate complex consultations, applications and reporting systems. To facilitate real-world decision making and informed policy, meaningful participation must be based on the availability of simplified procedures, accessible funding mechanisms, intermediary support, and reusable planning templates that would help smaller actors move from occasional consultation to sustained participation throughout the policy cycle. Living Labs can support this process by creating structured environments in which public authorities, researchers, businesses, and communities jointly identify problems, test solutions and generate evidence. However, their findings must be connected to CAP programming, financing and monitoring if they are to influence policy rather than remain isolated pilots.

The Tools4CAP Academy is the capacity-building and peer-learning program funded by Horizon Europe to support better governance of the Common Agricultural Policy. Ten interactive training modules bring together policymakers, CAP Managing Authorities, governance bodies, researchers and practitioners to explore practical methods for designing and implementing CAP Strategic Plans. Modules focus on using data and digital monitoring tools, assessing policy impacts, strengthening participatory and multilevel governance, translating evidence into policy decisions, and preparing for the post-2027 CAP. The Academy's final modules will introduce the Tools4CAP Handbook and examines how agricultural strategic planning is moving from strictly “evidence-based” towards evidence-informed policymaking; includes the proposed National and Regional Partnership Plans for 2028–2034. The session, scheduled for 17 September, will also examine the needs for a strategic-planning handbook for the next programming period that will help Managing Authorities move from static planning documents towards adaptive strategies grounded in territorial realities.

CAP as an instrument for the Right to Stay

The Right to Stay should not remain an abstract political aspiration. It should become a practical test of whether European and national policies produce visible improvements in rural communities. CAP Strategic Plans can contribute by supporting diversified local economies, viable agricultural and rural enterprises, social innovation, skills, services, connectivity and community-led development. Instruments such as LEADER and Community-Led Local Development already demonstrate the value of partnership-based approaches, but their local reach and decision-making capacity need to be strengthened. The focus of the discourse needed for Europe to make progress centers around CAP can plan for a strategic planning process that systematically incorporate place-based evidence from Living Labs, local authorities and rural communities into funded interventions that implement the “Right to Stay,” while keeping participation accessible to smaller actors with limited administrative capacity. This will help transform strategic planning from an administrative exercise into a genuine instrument of territorial cohesion — giving rural residents not only the freedom to leave, but a credible and supported choice to stay.

SUSTAINAGRO

Sustainability in Rural Enterprises and Innovation

A member of the Social Innovation Stakeholders Network - www.SocialInnovationActions.Org

Contact: info@sustainagro.net

@RURALITIES