2. Notes that the impact of demographic change on individual regions is serious and requires different adjustment strategies depending on whether the region concerned is a region of migration or of shrinking population; notes that quality of life is defined differently in regions of shrinking population, which are mostly rural regions, from the way in which it is defined in regions with a growing population, and therefore considers that different support strategies are needed;

Rural areas are characterised by a very large diversity of situations, ranging from remote rural areas suffering from depopulation and decline to peri-urban areas under increasing pressure from urban centres.

To ensure the sustainable development of rural areas it is necessary to focus on a limited number of core objectives at Community level relating to agricultural and forestry competitiveness, land management and environment, quality of life and diversification of activities in those areas, taking into account the diversity of situations, ranging from remote rural areas suffering from depopulation and decline to peri-urban rural areas under increasing pressure from urban centres.

There is a need to accompany changes in rural areas by helping them to diversify farming activities towards non-agricultural activities and develop non-agricultural sectors, promote employment, improve basic services, including local access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and carry out investments making rural areas more attractive in order to reverse trends towards economic and social decline and depopulation of the countryside.

Our response to rural decline has come late in the day, but I suppose better late than never.

(15) Whereas, to ensure the Community nature of the operations of the Funds, the areas undergoing socio-economic change in the industrial sector and the declining rural areas should, as far as possible, be designated on the basis of objective indicators defined at Community level; whereas, furthermore, the population covered by this priority objective taken over the Community as a whole, for guidance, should constitute about 10 % of the population of the Community in the case of the industrial areas, 5 % in the case of the rural areas, 2 % in the case of the urban areas and 1 % in the case of the fisheries areas; whereas, in order to e ...[+++]nsure that each Member State makes a fair contribution to the overall effort towards concentration, the maximum possible reduction in population covered by Obejctive 2 in 2006, set out in this Regulation, must not exceed one third compared to the coverage under Objectives 2 and 5b in 1999, set out in Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88;