NATIONAL RURAL NETWORK AS A MEASURE SUPPORTING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EU RURAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY

Abstract

The subject of this article is to present the characteristics of the National Rural Network (NRN) as a legal-administrative form of supporting the process of implementation of the EU rural development policy in Poland. In particular, the analysis covers the issue of the effectiveness of the adopted legal and organizational solutions in the context of the implementation of the Network’s objectives, taking into account the experience of subsequent programming periods in the financial perspectives 2007-2013 and 2014-2020, as well as in the currently designed conditions. It has been assumed that the structure of the NRN in Poland, as a Member State, includes administrative entities of central and regional character interacting with other entities involved in the implementation of the rural development policy. The activities of the Network are intended to ensure the inclusion of the stakeholders of the public policy in question (including industry organizations, cooperatives, chambers of agriculture, state research institutes, research and development units, non-governmental organizations, and individuals) in the processes of exchange and development of knowledge. They are also supposed to promote interaction between these stakeholders, which is the essence of “networking” aimed at the better use of support instruments from the funds of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy.