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The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a European Union (EU) policy aimed at supporting farmers, guaranteeing food security, and promoting sustainable rural development, which has undergone numerous reforms to adapt to the needs of the agricultural sector and society in general. The main objective of this work is to statistically analyse CAP aid in southwest Spain, specifically in Extremadura, a region characterised by areas at risk of depopulation and deep rural areas, during the last two periods of European aid (2007–2013 and 2014–2020). In this study, by means of principal component analysis (PCA), agricultural, economic, and demographic variables were interrelated, together with geographic information systems (GIS), to evaluate their impact on the development of the regional agricultural sector. This methodology will help to identify areas with improvements in their territorial structures and can therefore serve as a basis for their application in other European territories. Through the analysis, we identified areas where the interrelation of the variables showed improvements in their demographic, social, and economic structures, with the municipalities of populations over 10,000 inhabitants in Extremadura being the ones that compose the territorial substructure A. Therefore, this work shows how European agricultural aid can disproportionately favour the most dynamic territories and leave the less developed regions at a disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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At the end of the 20th century, tourism was positioned as an activity capable of diversifying and reactivating the economies of rural European areas, which were experiencing problems of demographic regression and a high rate of ageing. Subsequently, with the emergence and promotion of new models of tourism consumption, the provision of rural tourism facilities has increased, as is the case in the north of Extremadura. This study analyzes, through the use of a descriptive and analytical method, the distribution of the demographic, socioeconomic and heritage variables existing in the tourist territory of the Valle del Jerte-La Vera region in order to interrelate them with the tourist supply and demand in this area. The results allow us to observe that Valle del Jerte-La Vera is promoting tourist activities, with the promotion and implementation of better lines of action for the reception of travelers, in such a way that they favor the increase in the economic income, and these factors are capable to maintain the existing population, thus facilitating the development of rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For more than 30 years, the LEADER approach has been a key tool in the endogenous, local, participatory, and sustainable development of the most disadvantaged European rural areas in demographic and socioeconomic terms. However, despite the unquestionable labor of the rural development policy and the local action groups, various authors, both at a European level and at a national level, in Spain, have concluded that the majority of investments and the greater number of projects through LEADER have been concentrated in the most populated and most developed rural areas. For this reason, there is positive discrimination toward them in the management of aid for rural development. Knowing this and according to the objectives pursued by LEADER, the aim of this work is to analyze the situation in Extremadura (Spain), which has been a beneficiary from the beginning, building an optimal location model for rural development aid. Thus, it will be possible to determine the most convenient, optimal, or priority municipalities to receive aid for rural development due to characteristics such as a smaller population, low demographic growth, low birth rate, high mortality rate, high aging population, low productivity index, high unemployment rates, low accessibility to urban centers, and low LEADER investments in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout the history of the European Rural Development Policy and the LEADER (Liaisons entre activitiés de Developement de L'Economie Rural) Approach, the Regulation that heads them has experienced changes in order to provide greater support for the development of the most disadvantaged European rural areas. Currently, the EAFRD (European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development) finances this aid, which is immersed the Programming Period 2014-2020 with certain changes compared to the previous one. Thus, this paper intends to analyze the role of LEADER in the current Programming Period and to know how the territorial distribution of it is. It will be possible to see how there are differences in the operation of the LEADER Approach and how demographic and socioeconomic variables continue to act as location factors of rural development investments in Extremadura. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For 25 years the rural development policy has been implemented through the LEADER Approach in the EU to reduce differences between rural and urban areas, as well as to satisfy the basic needs of the population. In this paper, Extremadura is analysed, which is a Spanish region where LEADER has been applied since its inception in 1991. The objective is to assess if the distribution of rural development aids has been influenced by the diverse demographic and socioeconomic realities that Extremadura presents from the analysis of variables that represent these realities on the territory through a GIS. Following this methodology, it has been noticed that the largest investments have been executed in the most developed rural areas of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past 25 years, it has been applied in Europe's rural areas, and especially in Extremadura, territorial strategies through the LEADER Method in order to enable their economic development. This is by means of implementation of new activities as Rural Tourism is. The objective is to keep the population and slowing emigration processes and aging. In this paper, the evolution of aids to Rural Tourism is studied, as well as its regional implementation with context indicators, such as investments and projects by area and population of Local Action Groups. Moreover, other socioeconomic and demographic variables are studied to verify the success of its initial objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the 90s to the present day, Rural Policies called LEADER Method have been put in place in the European rural areas (Initiatives LEADER and PRODER are also included). Its objective is to activate the development in rural areas, in particular the rural areas of Extremadura, and to reduce as much as possible their socioeconomic differences in urban areas. In this study, it aims to study the implementation of this LEADER Method in the territory of Extremadura, observing the evolution and showing different qualitative and quantitative results and checking if the Rural Policies have contributed to reduce demographic and socioeconomic differences between rural and urban areas, the main objective of these policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the end of the last century, the Rural Development Policy and the associated Rural Development Aid have been implemented (according to the LEADER Approach) in European rural areas as a model of endogenous, integrated, and innovative development. Its objective is to reduce the differences of development in these areas. The objective of this paper is to analyze statistically (using Principal Component Analysis) the investments and projects carried out during the period of 2007–2013 in the regions of Extremadura and Alentejo. These two border regions have many territorial similarities but also historical, cultural, and political differences. These variations may contribute to a different implementation of the LEADER Approach. As determined by the results from the statistical analysis of economic aids and demographic variables, it is evident that there are differences in the management of the Rural Development Aid in both territories but resemblances in the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]