LDnet – Page 3 – Local Development Network

MFF Negotiating Box – numbers on the table, fault lines exposed

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

LDnet Webinar (4.12.2025): “A new architecture of EU policies and funds post-2027 – what place for local development? (part 3)” – In what direction can the next MFF evolve in 2026? – Presentations and recording

This webinar was held successfully on 4 December 2025 with 50 participants. A follow-up event is planned for 22 January 2026 (see HERE). For the full recording of the webinar click HERE 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? […]

Study presentation (17 March 2026): Navigating the European Commission’s MFF Proposal for 2028-2034

Study presentation on 17 March 2026, 15:30 -16:30 CET European Parliament, Antall Building, Room 4Q1 & via webstreaming Navigating the European Commission’s MFF Proposal for 2028-2034 Mapping Risks and Opportunities for Cohesion Policy and Regional Development This study, authored by Eulalia RUBIO (Jacques Delors Institute) and Cinzia ALCIDI (CEPS), assesses how the proposed National and […]

LDnet Webinar (28.5.2025) – “A new architecture of EU policies and funds post-2027 – what place for local development? (part 2)” – Summary, Presentations and Recording of the event

This webinar took place successfully with 50 active participants on 28 May 2025. The full recording of the webinar is available HERE. The presentations of the speakers are available below. Summary of the event At the time when decision-makers at EU level were preparing to publish the draft legislation of the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework […]

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. […]

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 […]

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LDnet short webinars on “invisibilised” spaces

LDnet is preparing a series of short webinars on vacant, underused, liminal, transitional and “invisibilised” spaces. The idea emerged from the LDnet Working Group “New Ideas” and aims to collect and share practical stories from local development actors across Europe. We are looking for short contributions … Continue reading

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

Making the Right to Stay work for local communities

A webinar on 'Right to Stay - Understanding the drivers of territorial cohesion' took place on 4 June 2026 with some 160 participants - see HERE and below. . Following this event AEIDL published a discussion paper on 'Making the Right to Stay work for local communities' authored by Serafín Pazos-Vidal and … 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

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

Policy Brief: Europe closer to Citizens – Community-led Local Development

This Policy Brief, from the Policy Learning Platform for a Europe closer to Citizens, was published by Interreg Europe in May 2026, authored by James Ling and Astrid Severin. As a territorial tool to implement PO5 (Europe closer to Citizens) funds, CLLD can be applied to a wide range of policy areas such … Continue reading

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