Rural development and challenges establishing sustainable land use in Eastern European countries

Abstract The European Union Rural Development Policy (RDP) for the period 2007–2013 seeks to establish a coherent and sustainable framework for the future of Europe's rural areas and is closely related to the improvement of living conditions in the countryside involving aspects of housing, the environment, infrastructure, communication, employment possibilities, land management, etc. Such interventions are very welcome in many Central and Eastern European countries where land reform after the collapse of the Soviet regime has resulted in a worrying drift towards rural depopulation. It is expected that the land consolidation (LC) process will not only allow solutions to the structural problems of rural land but could also create viable rural areas through improvements to rural services and infrastructure, and incentives for economic diversification, etc. Permanent and fluent communication between private and public interest groups is a most important aspect of achieving the stated objectives of land consolidation. However, this presently takes the form of a monologue rather than a dialogue in many Central and Eastern European countries. Today, and after the period of the currency of EU RDP 2007–2013, it is necessary to investigate the attitude and expectations of the interested parties if further degradation is to be avoided and the attractiveness of rural areas through LC projects is to be enhanced. The case study introduced in this paper, based on quantitative and qualitative surveys done with related key groups in Lithuania, reveals the main problems and offers possible solutions which should be reflected in the legislation to avoid the future degradation of rural areas.