Challenges in East German States
Drees, Andreas
One of the main goals of European policy is to align life conditions between the different countries but also inside the countries between urban and rural areas. 80 % or more of a countries area are rural even in industrial countries. Life in rural areas still is characterized by farming. The ongoing process of structural changes in the agrarian sector concern the existence of a large number of farmers. Many people give up farming and search for better chances in the cities. Young people leave their home villages for a professional education in the non-agrarian sector and most of them never come back. So the farming sector is held by more and more older people, the villages become deserted and problems of overpopulation in urban areas are getting worse. Without working against the difference between urban and rural areas will become bigger. So alignment of life conditions must happen by developing and strengthening rural areas. This means not only improvement of the agrarian structure but also support for the non-agrarian sector to get better conditions of agrarian production and a sufficient supply for jobs in other fields of work. But not only aspects of work but those of private living are to be considered for aligning life conditions. So infrastructure, environment and housing in rural areas are to be improved, too.
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