ABSTRACT
In peri-urban areas, agriculture has strategic value in the balance and quality of the urban environment. Recognition of this is contained in the statement of the European Economic and Social Committee on the question of ‘peri-urban agriculture’ (EESC, Brussels 2004). For the first time in an official European Union document, peri-urban areas are described as complex territories playing important economic, environmental and social roles, especially in view of their spatial proximity to and mutual dependence on nearby cities. In the EESC document peri-urban areas may include less favoured areas (Art. 20, Council Regulation (EC) 1257/1999) on support for rural development, i.e., areas with natural or environmental problems. In this case, local farmers would be entitled to an additional indemnity, proportionate to the natural or environmental limitations in which they are forced to operate.
