The Congress report on “Regional exodus in Europe: addressing the causes and creating new opportunities for rural communities”, to be debated at its 51st session (Strasbourg, 27-29 October 2026), was presented by co-rappporteurs Eke Folkerts (Netherlands, EPP/CCE) and Urs Janett (Switzerland, ILDG) to, respectively, the Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media on 13 October in Paris and Sub-Committee on the European Social Charter on 14 October in Bern.
Both rapporteurs underlined that the exodus of younger and working populations from rural regional communities was an essential matter of social rights and human rights, and that equal access to social rights for all had to be ensured across national territories, including in urban and rural areas, in order to guarantee social cohesion and trust in democratic Institutions – but also to avoid feelings of being disconnected among rural populations in particular.
The rapporteurs highlighted the importance of a multilevel governance approach in addressing the issue, pointing out that the issue of rural development showed that the effective implementation of social rights and delivery of services was most effective when all levels of governance – national, regional and local – were involved. The guarantee of social rights is a genuine multilevel governance mission for the Council of Europe member states, they stressed.
The upcoming Congress report makes clear that crucial elements of human rights-compliant regional strategies to counter the exodus are the issues of transport, IT infrastructures, specific location-based approaches, solid and innovative local partnerships as well as data collection for better evidence-based policies.
These presentations contributed to contribute to continuous and closer co-operation between the Congress and the Parliamentary Assembly.
