The Rural Pact Conference “From vision to action: Empowering rural areas for the future”, organised at the Château du Biez near Kortrijk (Belgium) on 16 and 17 September 2025, brought together 250 rural stakeholders from all over the EU and beyond, to exchange, network and discuss how to move forward with the Rural Vision till 2040 and the activities of the Rural Pact. One of the key purposes of the event was to collect from the Rural Pact Community the needs and ideas that would help the European Commission to updated the EU Rural Action Plan, and to contribute to the political debate shaping future policies for rural areas.
Although the event attracted many high-level speakers, including Raffaele Fitto, the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms, and Christophe Hansen, the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, high prominence was given to voices from the ground – for example, an inspiring contribution in the opening session from Lina Noreikaitė-Rimkienė, a woman from rural Lithuania (see video recording here). Throughout the event, the importance of local and territorial approaches was strongly highlighted, not only by the numerous participants from LEADER LAGs, but also by local and national public authorities, EC representatives, members of the Rural Pact Coordination Group, as well as experts and evaluators.
A report summarising the key highlights from the event will shortly be available on the event website.
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