"LEADER-programma voor rurale gemeenschappen heeft niet gewenste resultaat bereikt" (en) - Hoofdinhoud

20 years after its creation, LEADER - an EU initiative aimed at engaging rural communities in shaping their future - has failed to mobilise key stakeholders and promote local innovation, according to participants in a hearing on LEADER as a tool for local development which was organised yesterday by the European Economic and Social Committee. While being critical of LEADER’s achievements, the conclusions of the meeting praised the initiative for its partnership-based approach, which provides a model for empowering stakeholder participation in local development within and beyond rural areas.

The LEADER axis of EU rural development policy supports the establishment of local, multi-sectoral public-private partnerships for the framing and implementation of rural development strategies. Starting as a pilot activity under the CAP in 1991, it has become a mainstream methodological approach under the rural development pillar of the CAP, with a total programmed expenditure of EUR 13.876 billion under the 2007-2013 Financial Framework.

While expressing full support for the LEADER concept, representatives of EU institutions and stakeholder networks acknowledged that LEADER has not fulfilled its potential to integrate local needs and solutions into local development strategies, to mobilise key stakeholders and to promote local innovation. The achievement of this added value has been hindered by, inter alia, top-down decisions on priorities, complex administrative and financial procedures combined with lack of local administrative capacities, and conflicts of interests in the project selection process.

Participants called for uniform, clear and simplified administrative rules, more freedom for Local Action Groups (LAG) to develop and implement local solutions, increased transparency in the LAG operations, and capacity building for local actors.

The conclusions of the hearing will feed into an EESC Opinion on LEADER as a tool for local development, which is currently under preparation. This opinion ties in with the ongoing debate on the future of the CAP, and in particular the discussions on the rural development pillar. In his address to the hearing, Mr Mario Campli, President of the EESC Section for Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment (NAT) called for the rural development pillar within the CAP to be maintained and strengthened, "as it provides crucial support to many sectors in rural areas, and contributes to growth and sustainable development in the EU".