The debate on the MFF 2028-2024 has taken a step forward with the publication of the Council's Negotiating Box, drawn up and developed under the responsibility of the Presidency. Serafin Pazos-Vidal offers a critical look of the battlelines in the upcoming MFF negotiations. . MFF Negotiating Box – numbers on the table, fault lines exposed For the first time, the Negotiating Box comes with figures—and with it, a clearer sense of where the … Continue Reading
Future EU budget: regions and cities set out their key requests to reform Cohesion Policy
"Moreover, a minimum target of 20% of cohesion policy,rural areas and fisheries allocations must be spent for integrated territorial development strategies such as integrated territorial investments, community-led local development, LEADER or other territorial tools designed by Member States, in urban or rural areas, as a guarantee of a genuinely place-based approach that empowers local communities and stakeholders". The European Committee of … Continue Reading
EU lagging regions: State of play and future challenges
The EU’s lagging regions face significant challenges to transform their economic under-performance. Current ongoing transitions, such as digitalisation and towards a sustainable society, and the COVID-19 pandemic are accentuating these challenges. This is both creating new and exacerbating existing internal divergence within the EU. This study Marta Pilati and Alison Hunter (EPC) for the REGI […]
EU Cohesion Policy in non-urban areas
A new study by Stefan Kah, Neli Georgieva and Liliana Fonseca of EPRC, carried out for the REGI Committee of the European Parliament, looks at the role of EU Cohesion Policy in rural areas. The study analyses the challenges of these areas and discusses the extent and thematic orientation of rural Cohesion Policy funding. The […]
CLLD in Europe: An initiative of LDnet
Local development has different faces across the EU. Probably its most structured form is “Community-Led Local Development” (CLLD). It was implemented initially as the LEADER approach (developed within EU rural development funding since 1991), and the last decade it can be funded also from other EU Funds: maritime and fisheries, social and regional. Designed for […]
Territorial approaches – The potential of Community-led Local Development
The Interreg Annual Event 2020 was organised on 15-16 October in a digital format. The aim of the event was to review implementation of the Interreg Programme, share practice and experience between managing authorities and celebrate 30 years of Interreg. Among the parallel workshops on 16 October there was one focusing on “Territorial Europe”, in […]
Social Innovation, Societal Change, and the Role of Policies
In this new paper in the journal SUSTAINABILITY the authors explore the links between social innovation and policy and the “triadic relationships” between the state, intermediary organizations, and local actors. Authors: Robert Lukesch, Alice Ludvig, Richard Slee, Gerhard Weiss, Ivana Zivojinovic Abstract: Political frameworks and policies have a strong influence on the institutional ecosystem and […]
“Which future do you want in rural areas?”
From May to August 2020, 3 436 people from 26 different countries answered the survey which was carried out by ELARD, the European association of LEADER groups, in cooperation with REDR, the Spanish rural development network. The aim of the survey was to find out what rural citizens and actors think of life in rural […]
‘Reinventing local shopping and hospitality’ – The recording and ‘take away’ points from the webinar of 18 June 2020
The webinars on Rebuilding local economies after lockdown kicked off on Thursday 18 June 2020. The 1st session was on Reinventing local shopping and hospitality and was attended by some 40 participants. The full programme, link to the recording of the session and some “take away” points are available below. Full recording of the webinar […]
‘New solidarity services’ – The recording and ‘take away’ points from the webinar of 25 June 2020
The second session of the Webinar series on Rebuilding local economies after lockdown focused on new solidarity services which have emerged during the Covid-19 crisis. Special focus was placed on how these services came to fruition, the issues they are addressing, and what their legacy will be as lockdown eases. The full programme, link to the […]
‘Stay at Home Vacations – Staycations’ – The recording from the webinar of 2 July 2020
The second session of the Webinar series on Rebuilding local economies after lockdown focused on the impact of Covid-19 on travel and holidays and the local economies. With more people having vacations within their own country there is both an opportunity and a threat for rural, coastal and mountain communities. The webinar explored local communities can […]
‘Worsening inequalities / social inclusion’ – The recording from the webinar of 9 July 2020
LDnet organised, in association with RSA Europe, AEIDL and ELARD, a series of four forward-looking webinars on Rebuilding local economies after lockdown, from 18 June to 9 July 2020. The final session was on Worsening inequalities / social inclusion (Thursday 9 July 2020) – click here for the recording of this session – access password: […]
Post COVID-19 Futures; Changing Work and Re-Thinking Skills
Peter Lloyd has been among the active contributors to the series of webinars on ‘Rebuilding local economies after lockdown’. In a new paper, Peter and his co-author, Michael Blakemore, make a valuable contextual contribution to this debate focusing on work and skills. They see scope for making an opportunity out of the crisis and argue […]
Impact of Covid-19 on young people in rural and urban areas – Webinar 15 September 2020
On 15 September 2020, RURALIZATION is organising a webinar on the impact of COVID-19, to discuss the positive and negative effects of the pandemic and differences between urban and rural areas. The special focus of the webinar will be on young people and the event will count also on resilience stories from young people from […]
Events & activities
Webinar on “Environmental Risks & Citizen Science” coming in November 2026
The European Local Development Network Association (LDnet) in collaboration with the CS4Change project, is happy to be co-hosting a webinar titled 'Local communities and using citizen science in risk management' in early November this year. The webinar will share recent and ongoing studies that combine … Continue Reading
International Conference – A territorial approach to the SDG
This conference will take place on 19 June 2026 in Porto (PT). It aims to promote reflection and debate on the best solutions and the main success factors for the territorialisation of the SDGs, contributing to the formulation of recommendations that accelerate their implementation at the local level. The … Continue Reading
ELIF Webinar: Right to Stay – Understanding the drivers of territorial cohesion
This webinar took place on 4 June 2026 with some 160 participants - see HERE Background information This ELIF Webinar, follows on from the high-level launch on 6 May 2026 by the European Commission of a public consultation on the "Right to Stay". The Commission intends to put forward a strategy on … Continue Reading
RUR_DYNAMIX 2026: International Conference on Rural Dynamics, Resilience and Innovation
This conference will take place on 27–28 November 2026 in Mosteiro de Ancede, Baião, Portugal. It is organised through a collaboration between academic institutions, research centres and local authorities committed to the sustainable development of rural territories. RUR_DYNAMIX 2026 brings together … Continue Reading
What do cities need?
The European Urban Initiative (EUI) has launched a forward-looking survey to gather insights from urban practitioners and policymakers across Europe. This survey, hosted on Portico, aims to identify key trends, challenges, knowledge gaps and support needs in European sustainable urban development. The … Continue Reading
Articles
IN-COMMONS – Commons-based approaches for the regenerative reuse of “invisibilised” spaces
During a recent LDnet WG “New Ideas” meeting, we had the opportunity to present and discuss the concept note of IN-COMMONS, a proposal currently under development for the Horizon Europe – New European Bauhaus call: “HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-BUSINESS-03 – Approaches to reuse vacant, obsolete or underutilised … Continue reading
Rural development: a call for a broader territorial cohesion agenda
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) adopted an opinion on the Future of Rural Development after 2027 during a plenary session of on 6 May 2026. Led by rapporteur Radim Sršeň (CZ/EPP), mayor of Dolní Studénky, the opinion calls for rural development to be fully recognised as a core objective of … Continue reading
LEADER-CLLD post 2027: redefining the place of the EU in local development
AEIDL has published a new discussion paper, authored by Raquel Pastor Carretero and Serafin Pazos-Vidal from AEIDL’s Rural and Territorial Development team. The paper examines how the proposed 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) could redefine the future of LEADER and Community‑Led Local … Continue reading
Proposals for improving the draft regulations accompanying the next MMF
As discussed in the recent LDnet webinar on the way that the MFF proposals are likely to evolve in 2026, there several proposals that are currently being discussed focussed on specific amendments to the draft Regulations. . Some of the proposals are substantial. For instance, the recently published draft … Continue reading
Expert Voices – From community, for community
In the latest interview in the EXPERT VOICES series, Armelle Ledan, Social Innovation Expert and ELIF Thematic Coordinator, reflects on how EU policy and funding frameworks support, and often limit, Community-Led Social Innovation (CLSI) in practice. She highlights why community-led initiatives still … Continue reading
PUBLICATIONS
Policy briefs: Urban Interest Representation in the EU & Local and Regional governments representation in the EP
Two policy briefs were published in May 2026 on the EU-level advocacy of cities, authored by Dr Balázs Brucker, Research Fellow at ELTE CERS Institute for Regional Studies, Pécs (HU). The executive summaries of the briefs are presented below with links to the full documents. Urban Interest Representation in … Continue reading
Flexibility and Simplification in Cohesion Policy under the 2028-2034 MFF Proposals
This study for the REGI Committee of European Parliament assesses the main implications of the European Commission’s 2028-2034 proposals for the future design and implementation of Cohesion Policy, from the perspective of the European Parliament. It examines the likely effects of the proposed new framework … Continue reading
The new LEADER added value
The transnational LEADER cooperation project “OUR COMMON FUTURE”, involved LAGs from Austria, Luxembourg, Portugal, Bulgaria together with associated LAGs from Sweden, Finland, Italy, France, Spain, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia and Romania. Lead partner was the LEADER-forum Austria. The project set … Continue reading
Citizen science contributions to environmental risks assessment and management
Using Citizen Science with local communities to address environmental risk is an approach attracting considerable interest and is expected to be the subject of a webinar in the Autumn 2026. This publication, co-authored by LDnet members Joanna Storie and Ghieth Alkhateeb, is an example of the growing number … Continue reading
Study on Cohesion Policy territorial instruments
The European Policies Research Centre (EPRC) is highlighting the outputs from its recent study on Cohesion Policy territorial instruments implemented in 2014-20, including the final report of the study, instrument fiches and country fiches. The five types of territorial instruments covered by the study … Continue reading