Published in July 2025, the Commission’s legislative proposals for the 2028–2034 funding period point to a potential overhaul of EU funding structures. At the heart of the proposal is a merger of the existing Structural Funds into a new “National and Regional Partnership Fund” (NRPF). Under this model, each Member State would need to submit a single comprehensive partnership plan covering a wide range of policy areas in order to access EU funding. The reform would also affect the Common Agricultural Policy, including its rural development pillar.
Agriculture-related support is set to remain a priority, backed, for instance, by a minimum allocation for income support. The outlook for rural development beyond farming is far less clear. Although the objectives of the proposed fund still reference rural development, these ambitions are only weakly reflected in the detailed provisions. Even LEADER, a bottom-up instrument widely considered a cornerstone of rural development in the EU, could lose its ringfenced budget and face tighter constraints.
“Ultimately, it will be up to the Member States to decide how much weight rural development carries in their partnership plans,” says Stefan Becker, a researcher at the Thünen Institute of Rural Studies. “In theory, this could even lead to a strengthening. But overall, EU-funded support for rural areas is likely to become less prominent under these conditions.”
Such a development would be at odds with the EU’s own ambitions for rural areas, as outlined in initiatives such as the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas.
