Living countryside agenda to help villages

The Association of Towns and Municipalities of Slovakia (ZMOS) is proposing comprehensive solutions for the rural area, and the Living Countryside Agenda should help. It is to point out the negative effects of the public administration reform, the lack of systematic support for inter-municipal cooperation and the absence of solutions for the comprehensive development of the territory, taking into account the availability of public services and the serviceability of the territory. These include, for example, so-called food deserts, where people's access to basic food is a problem. According to the organisation, such a document has been missing in Slovakia for a long time, which causes significant problems in comprehensive rural development. Michal Kaliňák, central director of the Office of the Association of Towns and Municipalities of Slovakia (ZMOS), stated on Monday that almost half of Slovakia's population lives in the countryside, and over the past 20 years their number has increased by 240,000. This in contrast to the cities, where it has fallen by 126,000 people. He added that the countryside deserves attention and special help. “We can't just focus on the 9 cities of over 50,000 inhabitants. The countryside deserves attention. It is linked to the development of agriculture and tourism. It is also an investment opportunity for the state. The sooner we address the problems in the villages, the sooner we can focus on regional disparities. It is important to realise that what is commonplace in the cities is missing in the villages.” As he stressed, Slovakia needs to take a clear stance on the countryside. It is necessary to establish a definition of the countryside, update strategic documents and draw up a Rural Development Action Plan in this context.