This webinar was held successfully on 4 December 2025 with 50 participants. A summary of the event will be published shortly. For the presentations of the speakers click below. The Commission’s proposal for the MFF: Perspectives regarding the final framework and implications for Local Development? Serafin Pazos Vidal Preliminary views on planning Local Development support within […]
Archives for 2025
Chairperson’s report
Following the re-launch of LDnet earlier this year, four groups initiated by the management board of our association are now up and running. The communications group has set up a number of new systems and we now have a members WhatsApp group which you are welcome to join. We have just become active on Bluesky having […]
LDnet online presence
Dear LDnet followers, we’re strengthening our online presence! Follow us on LinkedIn for updates on our news, events, and insights on local development across Europe: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ldnet.eu/posts/?feedView=all We are no longer on Twitter. You can now connect with us on Bluesky instead: https://bsky.app/profile/ldneteu.bsky.social Join our growing community and stay part of the conversation. The LDnet Communications Group
ELARD campaign on the post-2027 regulations
On 17 November 2025, ELARD launched a targeted letter campaign addressed to Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and members of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), asking them to use their voice to share our legislative amendments for the post 2027 regulations. This follows on from a call issued, in September 2025, to […]
The European Commission’s proposals for the future EU budget: Stakeholders’ and experts’ responses
As expected, on 16 July 2025, the European Commission published its long awaited proposals for the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for the 2028-2034 period and we have published an extensive overview. A debate has already kicked off and we are summarising below the stakeholders’ and experts’ responses, with special reference to local development and territorial cohesion. […]
Territorial Foresight for Intergenerational Justice – 10 December 2025
The event, Territorial Foresight for Intergenerational Justice: Tools and Practices for Sustainable Regional Policy and Planning, forms part of the Big Question Week “What if spatial planning took intergenerational justice seriously?”. It will take place on 10 December 2025, from 09.00-12.30 CET. This session will explore how regional policies and spatial plans can use territorial foresight to address the long-term […]
6th European Rural Parliament: Rural Solutions to Global Challenges
Neslihan Önder Özen, Alistair Adam Hernández November 5, 2025 As part of the German Delegation, Alistair Adam Hernández and Neslihan Önder Özen from LDnet participated in the 6th European Rural Parliament and served as co-moderators of two workshops on rural movements alongside Tobias Federwisch from the Village Movement Brandenburg. The reflections below draw on our […]
Cohesion Policy on the Rocks?
This EPRC paper by Mendez, C., Bachtler, J., and Wishlade, F. deals in a systematic way with: The state of play of Cohesion Policy The shaping of MFF of the MFF proposals The national perspectives on reform The EU budget proposals for 2028-2034 The Cohesion Policy regulatory proposals for 2028-2034 and closes with a discussion […]
Ex post evaluation of the ERDF and CF for the period 2014-2020
The European Commission published on 10 October 2025 a Staff Working Document presenting the findings of the ex post evaluation of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Cohesion Fund (CF) for the 2014-2020 programming period. The evaluation is built around the five evaluation criteria stemming from the BetterRegulation Guidelines. Accordingly, it examines the: (i) […]
European Urban CLLD Network
LDnet covered the first public meeting of the newly created European urban CLLD network in Brussels on 3rd and 4th November 2025. The network has been set up on the initiative of Valentin Dimon, president of the Bucharest LAG. Its early members include his own LAG in Bucharest, Camina in Spain, a LAG in Czechia […]
Feedback from the Policy Action Lab – Rural areas and communities in the post-2027 EU budget and policies
This Policy Action Lab (see below) took place successfully on 5 November 2025 in Brussels. We are pleased to post the initial feedback provided by Āris Ādlers who participated in this event. Dear LDnet members. Greetings from Brussels. The European Commission presented its vision for the post-2027 EU budget (MFF) and outlined how rural areas […]
An overview of the Commission’s EU budget proposal and the challenges ahead
The Commission lays out the plans before the budget battle Serafín Pazos-Vidal analyses the new EU budget proposal for 2028-2034 presented by the Von der Leyen Commission. Although it is billed as a “radical restructuring,” the author warns that it is actually “doing much more with the same,” which foreshadows a tough political battle in […]