madam president i would first like to thank the rapporteur and the members of the committee on agriculture and rural development as it was important to put this topic on the table
the commission is very conscious of the essential role women play in agriculture and in rural areas
it can see that this is a task for the rural development policy
the rural development regulation provides for support in a number of areas which are important for women in rural areas
the setting up and development of micro-enterprises adding value to agricultural projects and seeking sales outlets for them are only a few examples
the rural development policy also foresees possibilities to help men and women to balance family and professional life
for example under the basic services measure social facilities like day care centres for children or elderly people can be supported
in addition local transport services and small-scale infrastructure are eligible for support
the situation in rural areas is very diverse across member states including as regards possibilities and requirements for women
member states and regions have to carefully analyse the situation and design tailor-made measures linked to local conditions taking account of the specific problems women face
for example member states can give preference to women with regard to certain measures
in addition member states can use financial engineering to set up guarantee funds in order to help women to get access to credit
women should also play an important role in the leader programme where they should bring in their specific interests and their specific potential in order to mobilise the development potential of an area
the commission agrees that it would be useful to have more data on the situation of women
however especially in the light of member states call for simplification it would prove difficult to convince them of additional reporting burdens
but for those data for which it is possible statistics should be presented and analysed broken down by gender
the commission will include where available data on women in its progress report on the implementation of the strategic guidelines for rural development
one very important factor in taking women forward in agriculture and rural areas is the exchange of experience
in this context i would like to draw your attention to the european network for rural development and its constituent national networks
they can be used to learn from each other's best practices and it would be desirable if more women's associations made use of these existing networks in order to connect women in different rural areas with each other
