In the framework of the European Committee of the Regions' 160th plenary session, an election debate between representatives of the groups took place where the EA Group's views were represented by MEP Lydie Massard, candidate for the Union démocratique bretonne (UDB) within the Europe Territoires Écologie (ETÉ) list in France.

The intervention by Ms. Massard, who herself comes from a town in rural Bretagne, opened with a strong vindication of rural communities: "Behind the generic term of ''the rural space" there are men, women, local companies, characterised by their varied landscapes, local cultures, and often by their regional languages". However, the main problem with those areas pertains to the lack of effective public services, which is slowly killing the rural space. "What doctor, what engineer, what enterprise will install itself in a territory without effective transport or without schools to educate their children?" was the rhetorical question asked by Ms. Massard to highlight how these shortcomings affect the life perspectives for rural populations.

Those views were supported by the mayor of the Terespol municipality and EA group member Krzysztof Iwaniuk, who in his intervention also pointed at the focus of rural policies on agriculture as the root of the social issues plaguing them. "CAP, Cohesion policy, is mostly focusing on farmers. Even in the most agricultural areas of the EU the number of people who live solely from agriculture is less than 10%", Mr. Iwaniuk said. The trend in rural areas due to lacking services is depopulation, and "in 20 years the situation will be even worse because 30 million people will disappear from the European landscape", which according to Mr. Iwaniuk will require a massive effort for repopulation to guarantee the sustained continuity of these regions that are essential to the EU.​