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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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: […]
LDnet Webinar – “A new architecture of EU policies and funds post-2027 – what place for local development?” (19.2.2025)
This is the second 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. The topic of this webinar is extremely topical following the publication of the Commission’s communication on this matter on 11.2.2025 – see HERE – […]
Local Action Groups as Territorial Development Polities
On 11 December 2024, Miriam de Oliveira Gonçalves presented her research on urban CLLD Local Action Groups (LAGs) in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area as part of the EPRC webinar series. Her talk gave an overview of her ongoing PhD work at URBinLAB – Urbanism & Territorial Dynamics in Lisbon. EU-funded LAGs were lauded for their […]
CoR: Programmes led by local action groups and communities must be reinforced and simplified
The Commission for Natural Resources (NAT) of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) discussed at its meeting on 27 November 2024 a draft opinion on “How post-27 LEADER and CLLD programming could contribute to better implementation of the long-term vision for the EU’s rural areas” (Rapporteur: Thibaut Guignar, Mayor of Plœuc-l’Hermitage). In this opinion […]
EU budget and place-based policies
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) adopted an own initiative opinion in November 2024 on “EU budget and place-based policies: proposals for new design and delivery mechanisms in the MFF post-2027” (Rapporteur: Marie-Antoinette MAUPERTUIS, President of the Corsican Assembly). This opinion is part of a package of own intiative opinions aimining to define CoR’s […]
FAMENET report: What does CLLD bring to coastal and fisheries communities around Europe?
This report, published in December 2024, follows a FAMENET survey of FLAGs and brings together information provided by around 150 FLAGs, as well as official information reported to the European Commission by national authorities managing the European Fisheries and Maritime Fund in 2014-2020 (EMFF). The report, titled What does CLLD bring to coastal and fisheries […]
Community-led value for social innovation
This webinar, on 12 December 2024, from 10 am to 1 pm CET, will launch of the Community-Led Social Innovation (CLSI) network as part of the European Local Innovation Forum (ELIF) thematic community! The event will highlight inspiring examples of CLSI projects, showcasing innovative practices from the recent call for projects that tackle local social challenges […]
Examining Local Action Groups as Territorial Development Polities: CLLD in Lisbon Metropolitan Area
This EPRC webinar will take place on Wednesday 11 December 2024, from 12:00 to 13:00 CET (11:00 to 12:00 UK time). It will showcase a new paper by Miriam de Oliveira Gonçalves, João Morais Mourato, André Pereira & Cristina Cavaco and will provide an opportunity for discussing its findings and conclusions. Over the past three decades, Local Action Groups […]
Post-2027 EU funding for local development under threat
The debate has started about the next MFF of the EU. Although there are no formally proposals in the public domain, informal briefings have raised concerns about the possible implications of a new MFF archtecture for the local and regional level. These concerns stem mostly from two features highlighted in two recent news items: The […]









