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
LDnet | Category LD Studies & Evaluations
Category LD Studies & Evaluations Organize Objects Hide subcategories objects .. Name Type Category ACTIVITÉS ET PRODUCTIONS DES PACTES LOCAUX wiki LD Studies & Evaluations ADETEF Study wiki LD Studies & Evaluations Bibliography on monitoring and evaluation wiki LD Studies & Evaluations Cohesion policy support to local development – commissioned by EC-DG REGIO (ADETEF-AEIDL-City […]
LDnet | LD and the EU funds: European Commission proposals for 2014-2020
LD and the EU funds: European Commission proposals for 2014-2020 On: 2012-05-08 12:43 (4902 Reads) The Commission proposals for the EU funds in the 2014-2020 period mark a turning point in favour of local development. The general regulation devotes a section to “Community-led local development” and states that to facilitate the implementation of multi-dimensional and […]
LDnet | Community-led local development: making it a success
Community-led local development: making it a success By: Group of Experts On: 2012-05-08 11:52 (5756 Reads) This statement has been prepared by a group of LDnet experts and is supported by several European civil society organisations and networks with a long experience and deep knowledge of local development for their consideration and endorsement. Comments and […]
Perspectives of Civil Society in European Rural Development
Goran ŠOSTER Now more than ever, the perspectives of civil society in European rural development are dependent on the programmes of leading nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and the ability to implement them. The majority of NGOs have come to the conclusion that they have to act in alliance with similar organisations from other countries. Different international […]
LDnet | Participatory evaluation of local development
Participatory evaluation of local development By: Jela Tvrdonova On: 2012-03-11 21:01 (5351 Reads) Jela Tvrdonova The evaluation of rural development policies – in compliance with the EU Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework is the process of the assessment of the public and private funds intervention according its results, impacts and needs, which shall be satisfied. […]
Towards new ideas for the local development approach
Fernando Barreiro Public policies in the field of social and territorial cohesion should question the supposition that economic activities have always to be distributed in an homogeneous way to benefit the poor and vulnerable people, who live in marginal territories without economic growth. The pretension of distributing in the territory of a country economic growth […]
Cameron’s Big Society
Peter Ramsden What does UK Prime Minister Cameron’s “Big Society” mean in practice? On the left it is argued that the Big Society is simply a smokescreen for cuts in the public sector in general and local government in particular. on the right the Red Tory’s like Philip Blond – director of new Think Tank […]
LDnet | Integrated Territorial Investments. A powerful tool for innovation and change in European cities?
Integrated Territorial Investments. A powerful tool for innovation and change in European cities? By: webmaster On: 2012-07-24 11:45 (9427 Reads) Integrated Territorial Investments. A powerful tool for innovation and change in European cities? By Paul Soto and Melody Houk with Peter Ramsden and Ivan Tosics Click on ITI Article (cache) to open full article Abstract […]
LDnet | What is community led local development
Community led local development implies a bottom up approach that directly involves the local community in its own development. Local authorities may support community led local development but the impetus normally comes from local enterprises and civil society organisations. The idea of community led local development has now made its way onto the agenda of […]
LDnet | Toby Johnson
AEIDL toby.johnson@poptel.org I have been involved in the co-operative movement since 1977 and have been in Brussels since 1994. I work mostly with AEIDL as part of the team supporting the learning networks among ESF managing authorities. I monitor and maybe mentor COPIE in inclusive entrepreneurship and BFSE in the social economy.
The prospects of local development initiatives in the context of the current crisis and social transformations, in Catalonia
On July 7th 2011, 20 people involved in local development in Catalonia met and shared ideas and thoughts on the prospects of local development initiatives in the context of the current crisis and social transformations. The meeting was convened by “Territories & Organizations’” and took place in the Hotel Barcelona Princess in the city of […]
LDnet | Swedish CLLD approach
Four funds available In the Swedish Rural Development Programme, which is expected to be approved by the Commission in June 2015, the CLLD approach is to fully embrace the multi fund approach. In their local development strategies the LAGs have the possibility to choose all the four funds, given there are logical and clear arguments […]
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