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
EURACADEMY: Resilient Rural Communities
A short participant’s report on the 16th EURACADEMY Summer Academy From 4th to 8th September 2017 the 16th Summer Academy of the EURACADEMY Association was held in Midleton, County Cork, Republic of Ireland. Participants from across Europe including Croatia, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Scotland, Slovenia, Wales and Armenia worked together with local communities in […]
Local development and ‘localism’
The traditional paradigm of local development, of enhancing the development of its own area, has limitations. It is clear that it has positive effects in several areas, where local stakeholders, private and public, have understood that giving added value to local assets and to local resources can improve local areas’ situation and improving the welfare […]
The Praia Manifesto of Social and Solidarity Economy and Finance networks on local economic development
Meeting in Praia, Cabo Verde, on the occasion of the 4th World Forum for Local Economic Development, the SSE International Forum, the Global Fund for Cities Development-FMDV, the Global Social Economy Forum-GSEF, the International Association of Investors in the Social Economy-INAISE, the Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of Social and Solidarity Economy-RIPESS, and their regional […]
European circular economy stakeholder platform
The Commission and the EESC have jointly launched the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform, following the Circular Economy Stakeholder Conference held in Brussels on 9-10 March 2017. The European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform will be a “network of networks” going beyond sectorial activities and highlighting cross-sector opportunities and challenges. The Platform will be a hub […]
Practitioners and researchers join the debate: “Communities as change agents: local development in the EU beyond 2020”
LDnet is co-organising with ELARD this event as part of EWRC 2017 (ref: 10B39). It will take place from 14:30 to 17:00 on Tuesday 10 October 2017 in Room VMA2 of the Committee of the Regions, followed by a networking session co-hosted by the Regional Studies Association. More than 160 people have registered for this […]
3rd European Rural Parliament
The European Rural Parliament is a long-term campaign to express the voice of rural people in Europe; and to promote self-help and action by the rural people, in partnership with civil society and governments. The 3rd European Rural Parliament will take place on October 18-21 October 2017 in Venhorst in the Netherlands. Parliamentary Sessions will […]
World Forum of local economic development – 17-20 October 2017, Praia, Cape Verde
The 4th World Forum will be held in Praia, Cape Verde, gathering national, regional, local government officials, practitioners and other stakeholders from all over the world. The World Forum of local Economic Development is an open working process that promotes open dialogue on Local Economic Development (LED), continues strengthening a global alliance among engaged stakeholders, promotes […]
Bibliography on circular economy
European Commission 2017, REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS, Brussels, Belgium, URL: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/implementation_report.pdf European Commission, Towards a circular economy, URL: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/priorities/jobs-growth-and-investment/towards-circular-economy_en Ellen MacArthur, Circular economy overview – The concept of circular economy, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom, URL: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/overview/concept […]
CLLD: Challenges and opportunties in 2014-2020 and beyond
The EU introduced ‘community-led local development’ (CLLD) in the 2014-2020 programming period, broadening significantly the scope of what was known as the ‘LEADER approach’. Three years into this period significant challenges still face the practitioners and offer opportunities for better interaction and cooperation with the research community. Click on the link below to read the […]
Capitalising on CLLD experiences – building resilient local communities
This event will discuss how CLLD is applied in rural and coastal areas, how it can be used to promote inclusion, as well as its new urban and social dimensions. It is the third in a series of CLLD seminars organised jointly by the four EU Commission Directorates-General managing the ESI FUnds. It will will […]
16th Summer Academy – “Resilient communities: pillars of sustainable rural development”
The Euracademy Association and the South and East Cork Area Development Partnership organise the 16th Summer Academy entitled “Resilient communities: pillars of sustainable rural development”. The Summer Academy this year will be held in Cork, Ireland, and the surrounding area, from 3rd to 8th September 2017. The theme: How can rural communities become more resilient […]
Active public participation and stakeholders’ engagement
This International Summer Course on Public Participation, Stakeholders’ Engagement, Co-Creation Methods offers active learning and new insights while performing an intense immersion in theory and practice of Active Participation Processes. It is highly interactive and appropriate to gain competencies to better intervene in EU and other projects. Organised by Mediatedomain and takes place from 6 […]
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