The European Rural Parliament is designed to:

Strengthen the voice of the rural communities of Europe, and to ensure that the interests and well-being of these communities are strongly reflected in national and European policies
Promote self-help, common understanding, solidarity, exchange of good practice and cooperation among rural communities throughout Europe.
Enable rural people to play their full role in addressing the great economic and political challenges which are currently affecting Europe. The European institutions are struggling to face these challenges. They need to connect with the concerns, the aspirations and the energies of European citizens. We wish to help in that process.
Who organises it?

The European Rural Parliament is co-initiated by three pan-European networks:

European Rural Community Alliance (ERCA)
PREPARE Partnership for Rural Europe
European LEADER Association for Rural Development (ELARD)
A major role in the European Rural Parliament campaign is being played by European and national partners, most of whom are members of the co-initiating networks – see Partners page for detail of these partners.

Host organizations:

Polish Rural Network
The Association for the Świętokrzyskie Rural Area Development

ERP Steering Group

A Steering Group is drawn from 3 representatives of each network is responsible for the strategic planning and oversight of the ERP. Each organisation is also able to supply a Joint Co-ordinator.
Current Steering Group members are:

Representatives from ERCA:
Tom Jones
Vanessa Halhead
Reena Laukkanen-Abbey

Representatives from PREPARE:
Goran Soster
Kim Smedslund
Leotrim Germizaj

Representatives from ELARD:
Marion Eckardt
Anita Selicka

About the Polish Rural Network
The Polish Rural Network (KSOW) was set up by the Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and is one of the National Rural Networks operating in each of the EU Member States. It acts to support the Rural Development Programme’s objectives as well as to enable and facilitate exchange and learning between all the partners involved in developing Poland’s rural areas.

The Agricultural Advisory Centre in Brwinów (CDR) is a public entity with the principal aim of improving the knowledge and skills of agricultural advisers in the country as well as to develop and standardize the services they provide to farmers in Poland. CDR manages the Network Support Unit of the Polish Rural Network and coordinates the work of public Agricultural Advisory Centres under the Polish Innovation Network.

The Polish Rural Network works with a large number of partner organisations around the country – there are currently over 5200. In addition the Network operates with the involvement of each of Poland’s sixteen regional governments.

The Network is closely involved with facilitating the LEADER approach; we support other networks, such as those of educational farms and demonstration farms; we have been instrumental to bringing together hundreds of consortia of farmers, researchers and businesses bringing innovation to Polish farming; we are leading the implementation of the smart villages concept in the country; and we manage a grant competition that funds work by rural innovators throughout Poland.

The Polish Rural Network – www.ksow.pl
The Polish Innovation Network – www.sir.cdr.gov.pl
The Agricultural Advisory Centre in Brwinów – www.cdr.gov.pl