Recent meetings
| Date | Commissioner / Cabinet | Topic | File |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Mar 2026 | Raffaele Fitto Executive Vice-President | Rural areas and stakeholders; next MFF | — |
| 17 Mar 2026 | Taru Haapaniemi Cabinet member | Exchange of view on the outcomes of the 6th European Rural Parliament in Scotland (October 2026) including the declaration and call to action, rural areas in the next Multi-annual Financial Framework and cooperation between the Commission and the ERP | — |
| 17 Mar 2026 | Raffaele Fitto Executive Vice-President | Rural areas and stakeholders; next MFF | SRC |
| 17 Mar 2026 | Taru Haapaniemi Cabinet member | Exchange of view on the outcomes of the 6th European Rural Parliament in Scotland (October 2026) including the declaration and call to action, rural areas in the next Multi-annual Financial Framework and cooperation between the Commission and the ERP | SRC |
| 27 Jan 2026 | Maria Gafo Gomez-Zamalloa Head of Unit | Exchange of views on the reform of the Common Agriculture Policy in the future Multiannual Financial Framework – support to community-based innovation ecosystems in rural areas | SRC |
| 27 Jan 2026 | Maria Gafo Gomez-Zamalloa Head of Unit | Exchange of views on the reform of the Common Agriculture Policy in the future Multiannual Financial Framework – support to community-based innovation ecosystems in rural areas | — |
| 18 Jan 2023 | Janusz Wojciechowski Commissioner | Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas CAP Objective: Generational Renewal | — |
| 18 Jan 2023 | Toma Šutić Cabinet member | Meeting on 5th European Rural Parliament | SRC |
| 18 Jan 2023 | Janusz Wojciechowski Commissioner | Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas CAP Objective: Generational Renewal | SRC |
| 18 Jan 2023 | Toma Šutić Cabinet member | Meeting on 5th European Rural Parliament | — |
Mission & Goals
ERCA is a non-profit and non-government organisation and network, at European, national and regional levels, that implement integrated cross-sectorial, place-based and local rural development. The objectives of ERCA are - To promote integrated, cross-sectorial, placed based and local rural development at the European level - To enable informed debate on the future of rural areas and rural development - To built on the collective strengths of the national and regional rural movements and empower them at regional, national and international levels and to support the formation of rural movements where they do not exist
EU Legislative Interests
ERCA is following the CAP and with priority of the Rural Development strategies on national and European level ERCA has a seat in the CAP Network Assembly ERCA has a seat in the Civil Dialogue Group on the CAP Strategic Plans and Horizontal Matters ERCA has a seat on the Civil Dialogue Group on Environment and Climate Change ERCA has a seat in the Permanent Sub-Group on LEADER and Community Led Local Development ERCA has a seat in the DG Agri Coordination Group of the Rural Pact
Communication Activities
ERCA initiated and is one of three organizations that every two years organizes the forum "European Rural Parliament" ERP, which brings together 300-400 participants from about 40 European countries, pan-European rural networks and European Union institutions. The participants agree a Manifesto and Declaration on the policy for rural development that is sent / presented to the EU institutions. The 5th ERP was held in Sept 2022 in Kielce, Poland. In January 2023 ERCA met with representatives from the Cabinet of Ms Ylva Johansson - Home Affairs, Cabinet of Ms Elisa Ferreira - Cohesion and Reforms, Cabinet of Ms vice-president Dubravka Suica - Democracy and Demography, Cabinet of Mr Janusz Wojciechowski - Agriculture, Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI), NAT-section of the Committee of Regions, Swedish permanent Representation, European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), EU CAP network, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, RUMRA and smart villages intergroup from the European Parliament, to present and discuss the conclusions from the 2022 ERP Manifesto and Declaration. Both DG Agri and DG Regio as well as ENRD, EESC and CoR have always participated in the ERP. In May 2021 ERCA participated in organising a partnership event with EESC on a holistic strategy on sustainable and equitable rural/urban development. In Oct 2021 we held our online Mid-Term Event, with participants from 40 countries and the EU Institutions. A further Mid-Term Event was organised in Brussels in January 2025 in the EESC facility. The 6th ERP was held in Inverurie Scotland on October 20-23, with delegations from 40 European countries and European institutions. All reports from ERP events are on the ERP website: www.europeanruralparliament.com and the ERCA website: www.ruralcommunities.eu ERCA is involved with the ongoing work on the LTVRA, including in the groups on Rural Revitalization and Rural Pact. ERCA is a partner in the FUTURAL Horizon Project and the GreenFit Horizon Project.
Interests Represented
Does not represent commercial interests
Member Of
ERCA does not belong to any other organisations, however we have close working co/operation with other networks and organisations for rural development and are Co-initiators of the European Rural Parliament ERP, along with ELARD and PREPARE and recently Rural Youth Europe RYE. The ERP is a network of 66 independent national rural organisations in 40 European countries and 8 pan-European networks
Organisation Members
ERCA currently has 16 members organisations: Hela Sverige ska leva - Sweden - www.helasverige.se Suomen Kyl'ttoiminta ry SYTY - Finland - https://suomenkylat.fi/ Scottish Rural Action - Scotland - https://www.sra.scot Landelijke Vereniging voor Kleine Kernen, LVKK - Netherlands - www.lvkk-nl Brandenburg 21 e.V - Germany Irish Rural Link - Ireland - https://www.irishrurallink.ie/ Northern Ireland Rural Community Network - N. Ireland - https://www.ruralcommunitynetwork.org/ Landsdistrikternas Fellesraad - Denmark - https://www.landdistrikterne.dk/ Action with Communities in Rural England ACRE - https://www.acre.org.uk Lithuanian Rural Communities Union - Lithuania - https://www.lkbs.lt/ Vlaamse Vereniging Dorpsbelangen - Belgium - https://www.dorpsbelangen.be/ All-Ukrainian Association of Communities - Ukraine - https://communities.org.ua/ ANIMAR - Portuguese Association for Local Development - Portugal - Associação Portuguesa para o Desenvolvimento Local - https://www.animar-dl.pt/ and 2 Associate Members: Arsyllfa_Rural Observatory - Wales - https://www.arsyllfa.cymru/ SIMTUR - Italy