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
Events & activities
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
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 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