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
Forging a Good Local Society
A new report Forging a Good Local Society: Tackling Poverty through a Local Economic Reset, makes the case for tackling poverty locally. Written by Neil McInroy and published by the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES), the report notes that local identities and innovation are increasingly viewed as an antidote to remote and detached national […]
New LDnet site
We have created this new LDnet site for greater clarity and ease of navigation. It should also be easier for members and friends to contribute. To become a contributor go to the bottom of the right-hand side bar. We are now busy exporting the content of the old site and adding new content so the site is still ‘work in […]
LDnet at EWRC 2016
LDnet’s workshop in this year’s European Week of Regions and Cities on ‘Achieving social inclusion in CLLD in the context of the results-orientation of the ESI Funds’ took place on Wednesday 12 October from 9:00 to 10:45 at the Committee of the Regions (Workshop Ref 12B76 ). It was very well attended and focused on the […]
Food sovereignty and urban-rural integration
LDnet is pleased to present this paper by Robert Lukesch on the theme of food sovereignty and urban rural linkages. Robert suggested this theme and developed the content for the LDnet Open Days (OD) 2015 workshop hosted by DG Regio and the Committee of the Region. As in other years, the LDnet workshop included input […]
How are the EU Member States using CLLD
Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) can be applied in four European Structural and Investment Funds: the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). However, only in the EAFRD the use of CLLD – under the LEADER measure […]
Migrant and refugee integration in rural Europe
This new ENRD Projects Brochure – ‘Migrant and Refugee Integration’ – explores how people in rural areas have used EAFRD support to respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by the recent influx of migrants and refugees into the European Union. A number of projects from different countries are presented under the themes of ‘Changing […]
New CLLD publications by FARNET
Two new FARNET publications are of general interest to CLLD. ‘Starting CLLD implementation in practice’ presents examples of applying CLLD under the different ESI Funds and shows different methods of integrating the EU Funds at the local level. ‘Results-oriented CLLD in fisheries areas’ offers six factsheets, including real-life examples, designed to help FLAGs ensure better […]
Agritorino
Agritorino is an initiative, launched in Turin in 2012, promoted by various local voluntary associations: Sermig, Cottolengo, Congregazione Salesiana, Padri Somaschi, Permicro Banca di microcredito e Piazza dei Mestieri. The project aims to combine support to family incomes, sustainable agriculture and vocational training, by entrusting young unemployed people to cultivate lands that had been left […]
Brexit: a shift towards a CLLD approach?
In a recent post in capreform.eu on the topic of UK policy towards agricultural land after Brexit, Professor Ian Hodge of the Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge argues in favour of ecosystem services policy with many features akin of a CLLD approach, as in the following quotation: “There would be greater and longer […]
Network support for CLLD in urban areas?
For local communities to succeed in implementing CLLD it is very important that they have access to networking support – capacity building, guidance, opportunities for exchange with other communities facing similar issues… Implementation of CLLD under the rural and fisheries funds is supported by networks at EU and national levels. What about communities implementing CLLD […]
Community entrepreneurship for local development
Toby Johnson Senior adviser on community economic development, AEIDL Entrepreneurship means taking a risk, using one’s initiative, and it has a production element, involving the creation of a new product or service which is sold on the market. But you do not have to follow the ‘cowboy’ model of the entrepreneur, which implies reliance on […]
LDnet | IDELE
| IDELE IDELE DG Employment research programme managed by ecorys produced a series of useful reports most of them written by Peter Lloyd and also Francesca Froy. They mostly date from 2004 IDELE thematic report series Old industrial and mining areas: the added value of local employment development (Seminar 1: Lille, France) http://www.uk.ecorys.com/idele/themes/oldindustrial/resources/idele_summary_report_oldindustrial.pdf The Metropolitan […]
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