Hello there, Peter Danielsson – who has been the Governor of Skåne County since November 2025!

Skåne's rural areas already contribute great societal values today – from food and energy to community, innovation and preparedness. How do you see the role of rural areas in Skåne's future development in terms of sustainability and resilience, and what needs to work better for them to be vibrant places where people really choose to live and work?

The role of rural areas is absolutely central for a county like Skåne. It is of utmost importance that we engage the entire county and that we drive development also in areas outside the big cities.

Our county should be an example of how to bring together both urban and rural areas, and thus utilize all the fantastic social values and commitment that exist throughout Skåne.

This includes, for example, food and energy supply, both of which are priority areas for the Skåne County Administrative Board, not only from a sustainability perspective but also now from a clear focus on preparedness in the event of a crisis or war. For both of these issues, the countryside plays a crucial role.

In addition to sustainability and preparedness, development in these areas is also important for increased growth, reduced unemployment, the basis for more local services and increased security in rural areas.

Unfortunately, there are still challenges. We see a negative trend in terms of population development and centralization that seems difficult to break. I am thinking of the tendency with the increasing difference between western and eastern Skåne, where the population decline and the decline in growth are hitting the eastern part harder.

This is where research and innovation also play a role. It is not enough to just identify negative societal trends, we must also be able to act on them and dare to think in new ways.

I am currently working on developing the County Administrative Board's cooperation with the Skåne region, as they are responsible for issues surrounding regional development and public transport (the latter also plays a large part in being able to develop a vibrant countryside).

How do you see the role of the Leader method going forward, as a link between local initiatives and the County Administrative Board's regional missions?

For us at the Skåne County Administrative Board, cooperation with the Leader areas is important. From the start, we have had a close and valuable partnership with the Leader offices, a collaboration characterized by mutual support in everything from regional issues to advocacy work towards national and EU levels.

We have also achieved concrete results through various projects. A concrete example of Leader's value is commitment to young people, which is both unique and crucial for the future of rural areas.

The breadth of the Leader offices is also impressive, as they have experience with multi-fund solutions, a broad network and, above all, the unique bottom-up perspective that is the very core of the Leader method.

Our good cooperation is important for the broader rural development in the region, and rural development in particular is something that I hope we can develop further together in the future through even better coordination between programs and actors.

We see an opportunity in developing our efforts at different levels so that they ultimately strengthen each other and we then have a whole where our respective roles complement each other, from strategic planning (where we grant investment and cooperation support) to the local anchoring of the Leader offices.

The interview was conducted by Maria Lundgren, Leader Skåne Mitt Nordväst, in May 2026.