Séamus Boland

Could you briefly outline your professional journey and how you came to your position in the EESC?

I left school at thirteen to work on the family farm of five hectares. My first foray into civil society organisations came when I was 15 years old, when I joined Macra Na Feirme, or Young farmers.

In my mid-twenties I studied and received a teaching degree in speech and drama. I then taught the subject for a number of years, with a particular focus on young people who fell through the education system. This led to working with a number of volunteer organisations dealing with youth and disability. I then helped reform Midlands Youth Services in Ireland, becoming the manager for seven years. Part of this work led to working with a range of disability organisations involved in re-training and rehabilitation.

I then joined Irish Rural Link (IRL), a national organisation dealing with the issue of rural sustainability and rural poverty. IRL is part of an umbrella group of national organisations, which would later form one of the pillars of social partnership in Ireland. One of the powers of this umbrella group is being able to nominate a representative to the EESC for government approval.

Luckily they did, and here I am.

What are your main responsibilities as a member of the EESC?

As a member, an EESC representative will participate in writing opinions connected to proposed EU legislation. Because the committee is comprised of employers’, workers’ and civil society organisations, and because of its inclusion in the Treaty of Rome, it plays a vital role in connecting civil society with the political institutions.

In 2019, I was elected as what is known as the president of the EESC’s third group, the Civil Society Organisations’ Group. In effect, this meant that I would go on to be the first man from Ireland to be elected to this position. On 4 December, I was elected as designated candidate for the EESC Presidency starting in 2025. If confirmed by the EESC assembly at its first meeting after the EESC renewal, I will take over the EESC Presidency from Oliver Röpke in October 2025.

How do you evaluate the role of civil society in shaping sustainable policies?

Civil society is often the first responder to various emergencies. Recent examples are COVID-19 and climate disasters across Europe. Civil society also plays a huge role in delivering aid and assistance to war-torn countries like Ukraine and others. In the Conference on the Future of Europe, a series of debates jointly organised by the European Commission, European Parliament and the Council of the EU, the role of civil society organisations as a whole was considered to be integral to connecting citizens to the institutions and, if managed correctly, narrowing the democratic deficit perceived widely in the EU.

What are the most pressing issues and challenges for civil society organisations in the EU today? What is their main focus?

Civil society organisations (CSOs) are mainly excluded from social partnership. This exclusion means that valuable information in the hands of these organisations is not available to European policy-makers and those of national governments. This is a huge disadvantage and failure to correct it means that the EU is becoming more distant from the needs of communities and citizens. Hence the huge anger among voters. I propose that CSOs need to be at the centre of Europe, where policy is designed.

Civil society organisations are at the coal face when it comes to working with citizens who are affected by chronic poverty, no access to education, health and vital public services. They are seeing increasing cases of serious poverty, which is becoming a pandemic in certain areas. Therefore, the eradication of poverty is urgent.

Clearly, climate change and the need to urgently deal with its consequences is essential.

I have called for a comprehensive social and financial plan that has the same urgency as the famous US Marshall Plan after World War 2. Without a proper just transition plan Europe will not achieve the many climate targets it has signed up to.

Europe also has other major issues to manage in terms of defence and security, not to mention the rule of law. Since the advent of two major wars close to European borders, it is almost certain that millions of EU citizens are looking for peace. Equally, doing nothing and allowing the greater powers to dictate is indeed extremely dangerous.

The eradication of poverty in Europe and the world has always been a focus of civil society organisations and indeed all concerned with the EU. All of these organisations are connected to programmes in this area and have a huge part to play in continuing this work.

European society is aging. What plans exist to better achieve intergenerational solidarity?

The EESC has just produced an opinion which asks us all to consider the financial and social costs of an increasingly aging population. Unfortunately, many of the plans that exist will not completely solve the issue of housing, costs of healthcare and pensions along with the rising costs of living. If we ignore this, then the next decade will see major problems for Europe.

In short, the issues around this are:

Cost of pensions, healthcare and caring and the implications this will have in all aspects of economic planning.

There are also well-founded fears that the working age population is declining, which will weaken the economy, thus creating huge deficits in terms of GDP, etc. In effect, failure to take the subject of intergenerational solidarity seriously can be seen as a major risk in terms of overall EU solidarity.

What do you consider to be the top priorities for rural development in the European Union?

The top priorities for rural development are:

1.Solving the huge costs of transition away from fossil fuels,

2.Resolving food security,

3.Making rural Europe a sustainable place to live in.

There is still a huge gap between rural and urban, in terms of costs of living, access to public services, sustainable transport and employment that we must take into account.

The potential EU membership of Ukraine would have huge implications for rural Europe in terms of the budget of the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP).

How do climate change impacts affect rural communities, and what measures do you propose to mitigate them?

Actions to tackle climate change require significant changes in farming practices and energy provision, which will require radical investment similar to that of the Marshall Plan. In rural communities, the potential to create solar-based energy is enormous, using farm sheds and land that is useful for no other purpose. It is a similar case for wind power. Most rural housing could be made ‘passive energy houses’, thus reducing the dependency on fossil fuels by almost 80%.

Changed working patterns, such as working from home or rural towns and villages, could significantly and positively contribute to halting the decline of these villages, while at the same time improving the quality of life.

Depopulation is a significant challenge for rural areas. What concrete steps should the EU take to retain populations in these regions?

Work can now be managed from home or in special work hubs constructed in rural villages. The cost of commuting is a heavy burden on many people and the companies they work for. As I said, the ability to work from home should be reinforced.

Because of the greater influence of digital technology, the EU will need to find incentives to encourage the establishment of work or business hubs in the wider rural settlements.

Also, the potential for increased biodiversity programmes will require a mix of skill levels ranging from academic to precision-based abilities, which will increase the opportunities to live and work in rural areas.

How can the voice of rural communities be better integrated into EU-level decision-making processes?

Rural voices are not catered for by mechanisms such as social dialogue. This has to change. It is surely possible for the European Commission to design and implement more open, transparent and regular processes of dialogue with the respective organisations. Otherwise, the dialogue of thousands of tractors clogging up the streets of Brussels and other capitals could continue. Equally, voices from rural areas advocating the eradication of poverty or demanding proper rights for minority groups, including in terms of race, gender, disability and others, need to be heard. Special measures will be needed for funding these groups, which, because they often represent the poor, do not have the necessary financial resources to finance their activities.

Some EU critics claim that excessive bureaucracy and regulation are harming the economy and farmers as well. The EU Council of Ministers has announced plans to eliminate controls and penalties for farms up to 10 hectares this year. Is this a good measure to encourage small farmers to continue their work?

Unfortunately, bureaucracy continues to stalk the common agricultural policy. The 10-hectare rule is a start, but falls far short of what is required.

It is often the elaborate design of rules and programmes that confuses. One of the huge disadvantages caused by high levels of regulation is the cost to farmers and others, because of the need for high-level advice needed to manage processes. Most farmers and others will not have the necessary know-how to manage what is often a very complicated bureaucratic process. To overcome the lack of support, the least that policy-makers could do is to ensure that adequate financial support is built into the various programmes.                                                                                                                         

What are the key barriers to achieving social inclusion in rural areas?

Social exclusion is often more invisible in rural areas. Various minorities or persons with disabilities tend to move towards the cities looking for help. Often various agencies are not equipped to provide advice to women affected by domestic violence or to people experiencing significant poverty. Rural poverty is also invisible and requires targeted approaches that are designed by rural experts. Underpinning all social exclusion is the reality of poverty. By its nature it deprives people of the necessary resources to overcome many of the barriers that create exclusion.

Could you share examples of successful projects that have had a positive impact on rural communities?

Locally designed rural transport programmes, such as TFI Local Link in Ireland, have made a huge difference. Meals on Wheels a range of befriending services, which identify people in need of many other services and again make a huge difference.

How do you assess current European policies related to rural development and where do you see room for improvement?

Rural development is covered under the funding of the common agricultural policy. Unfortunately, the budget designed to reach many rural populations with the ‘LEADER’ local development method is still only a very small percentage of its total budget. In that context, some serious question marks apply.

How can the EU better balance the needs of urban and rural areas?

Urban and rural areas should be managed on a regional basis. With well-designed regional planning, urban and rural areas can be balanced in terms of investment in business and social provision.

What would you highlight as the biggest challenges in implementing the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the context of sustainability?

Sustainability is extremely difficult to achieve. It requires farmers to change their current methods of production, but these changes will reduce food production and farm income. Again, the heavy bureaucracy of the CAP is proving extremely difficult and is failing to achieve real targets.

What is your vision for the future of rural Europe and how do you see the role of the EESC in achieving that vision?

A vision of rural Europe hinges on its ability to transform methods of food production in a way that is not damaging to the environment and the income of farmers.

What is your message to Croatia regarding the growing decline of its rural areas and the drop in agricultural production year after year?

Croatia is of course a beautiful country, very rural and rich in terms of diversity. If it can hold on to strong rural leadership that is focused on preserving all that is good in terms of nature and somehow balance food production that can be sustainable long into the future then it will lead all markets.

Finally, could you highlight any current issues or announce upcoming projects you will focus on in the near future that we haven’t covered?

No, I think I’ve covered everything.

For the media publications Business Media Group, Udruga.hr, and Poslovni savjetnik, journalist Goran Jungvirth conducted the interview