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 Webinar (23.4.2025) – “EU Climate neutral cities by 2050, a serious challenge for European cities – Summary, presentations, recording
This event took place online on 23 April 2025 as part of the 2025 series of LDnet webinars. It was led by Maria João Filgueiras Rauch and was attended by some 40 participants. The summary of the proceedings is available below together with links to the presentations and the recording of the event. EU Climate neutral […]
LDnet Webinar (26.3.2025) – Empowering Local Communities for Smart and Sustainable Cultural Heritage – Summary, presentations, recording
This event took place online on 26 March 2025 as part of the 2025 series of LDnet webinars. It was led by Rosalba La Grotteria and Giuseppe Pace and was attended by some 50 participants. The summary of the proceedings is available below together with links to the presentations and the recording of the event. […]
LDnet Webinar (19.2.2025) – “A new architecture of EU policies and funds post-2027 – what place for local development?” – Summary, presentations, recording
This event took place online on 19 February 2025 as part of the 2025 series of LDnet webinars. It was attended by more than 120 people. The summary of the proceedings is available below together with links to the presentations and the recording of the event. A new architecture of EU policies and funds post-2027 […]
LDnet Webinar (21.1.2025)- “Citizen participation: From Sherry Arnstein’s ladder to Co-everything” (21.1.2025) – Summary, presentations, recording
This was the first in a new 2025 series of LDnet webinars. It took place online on 21 January 2025 with three main speakers – Peter Ramsden, Marijana Sumpor, Giuseppe Pace – and 45 active participants. Like all LDnet webinars it was free and open to practitioners, researchers and policy administrators. Urszula Budzich-Tabor, LDnet and […]
LDnet webinars in 2025
LDnet is organising a series of events in the first half of 2025. They will offer an opportunity to practitioners, researchers and policy administrators to explore different aspects of participative approaches to local development (one of current priorities of LDnet – HERE) and the emerging challenges for CLLD arising from the reform of the EU […]
FUTURAL Policy Webinar 21 May 2025 – Smarter, stronger and more competitive rural areas
Smarter, stronger and more competitive rural areas: the way forward for EU policies (21 May 2025, 9.30-11.30 am CEST, online) Building on the European Local Innovation Forum (ELIF) held in November 2024 and following the RURACTIVE Forum in February 2025, the policy dialogue continue. As the EU Institutions are preparing the next Multi Annual Financial Framework […]
ELIF – Expert Voices
‘Expert Voices’ features AEIDL experts and ELIF members who bring first hand experience and knowledge to the community. There are several interviews alreday available HERE on topics, such as: Social Innovation & Public Policy Sustainable rural development Community-Led Climate Action & Local Resilience Rural Europe: Policy, Vision & Action Multisectoral solutions for Rural Resilience ELIF […]
LDnet webinar – EU Climate neutral cities by 2050, a serious challenge for European cities! – 23 April 2025
Following the considerable interest shown on the theme of participative approaches, LDnet has included a webinar on “collaboration about sustainable cities and multi stakeholder approaches” in its 2025 webinar series. The webinar will take place on Wednesday 23 April 2025 at 16.30 CEST and it is led by Maria Joao Filgueiras Rauch. EU Climate neutral cities […]
LEADER: Where it came from and what’s still in it (2nd edition)
LEADER has a long history and is still going strong. Robert Lukesch gave a talk in the final conference of the transnational project ‘LEADER/CLLD: Our common future’ on 4-6 November 2024, in Cheleiros/Mafra, Portugal, on the topic of ‘LEADER: Where it came from and what’s still in it’. This was based on a treatise in […]
Empowering Local Communities for Smart and Sustainable Cultural Heritage (Webinar 26 March 2025, 17.00 CET)
This webinar will follow up on the theme of participative approaches to local development and is titled “Empowering Local Communities for Smart and Sustainable Cultural Heritage: Bridging Expertise, Digital Change, and Partnerships”. It will take place online on Wednesday 26 March 2025 at 17:00 CET. This webinar is led by Rosalba La Grotteria and Giuseppe Pace. […]
Understanding the territorial patterns of climate discontent – 11 March 2025, Brussels
Across Europe, discontent is fueling the rise of anti-systemic sentiments, often in regions negatively impacted by economic transformations, including climate policies. The JRC Exploratory Research Activity on Climate Discontent aims to explore the relationship between climate change, climate mitigation policies, and regional discontent in Europe, with a focus on understanding how these three dimensions interact in […]
Webinar, 21 January 2025, 17.00 CET: “Citizen participation: From Sherry Arnstein’s ladder to Co-everything”
This is the first in a new 2025 series of LDnet webinars. It is open to practitioners, researchers and policy administrators. All the LDnet webinars are free. Registration is open HERE. Title: “Citizen participation: From Sherry Arnstein’s ladder to Co-everything” Date: Tuesday, 21 January 2025 Time: 17.00 CET Moderator: Urszula Budzich-Tabor, LDnet and AEIDL Speakers: […]
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