Development of rural areas in Finland

Artikkeli perustuu HY:n taloustieteen laitoksella esitettyyn pro gradu -tutkielmaan maatalouspolitiikan oppiaineessa. Tutkimuksen ohjaajana on toiminut professori Jukka Kola.The article is concerned with the shaping of the rural policy in Finland and in the European Union as well as the foundations, preparation, and financing of the development programmes for rural areas in broad outline. In Finland the rural policy proper started in connection with the Vital countryside project launched by the Council of Europe in 1987. The regional and rural policies became programme-based as a result of the Act on Regional Development, which came into effect in the beginning of 1994, and in this connection the regional development work was harmonised with the European practices. The rural policy of the EU is implemented, in particular, through Objective 5b, but Objectives 1 and 6 also contain, in addition to other measures, an extensive development package for rural areas. The financing from the EU is mainly part-financing, which means that national, both public and private funding must be tied to the project. The planning and implementation of the development measures of the regional and structural policy of the EU are based on the principles of centralisation, complementing, cooperation, and programme-basis. According to the subsidiarity principle, the Finnish programmes have been prepared in cooperation between the national and local authorities. The provincial associations consisting of municipalities represent the local authorities, and these were responsible for the preparation of the programmes for each province, together with other interest groups in the region in question. In cooperation between the different ministries the programmes for individual provinces were then put together into national skeleton programmes under the Ministry of the Interior, and the Commission made the final documents of the Finnish programmes on the basis of these. The follow-up committee consisting mainly of representatives from the member state and the Commission have the overall responsibility for the implementation of the programme in question. In Finland the follow-up committees are assisted by joint work groups of the provinces.vMTT Taloustutkimus (MTTL