• The PAC Network organized the "LEADER Experience Exchange Day: Development and Harmonization of Legal Instruments for the Implementation of LEADER in the Period 2023-2027"
• Its objective is to provide resources and working documents that facilitate the development and harmonization of legal instruments to regulate the implementation of LEADER in the period 2023-2027

06.11.2023 . “The power of the local.” The LEADER approach , in place since the 1990s in Europe and with more than 35 years of projects managed from, by, and for the local area, continues to occupy a prominent place in the new Strategic Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy . Not surprisingly, Spain has, of its own accord, doubled the funds allocated to LEADER for the period 2023-2027.

Given the prevalence of this approach in the new CAP, the CAP Network has organized a new meeting aimed at LEADER approach managers and Local Action Groups (LAGs). on the “Elaboration and harmonization of legal instruments for the implementation of LEADER in the period 2023-2027” , aimed at providing resources and working documents that facilitate the elaboration of legal instruments to regulate the implementation of LEADER in the period 2023-2027. More specifically, so that the LAGs know and can elaborate:

• Collaboration agreements
• Regulatory bases
• Calls

To this end, the network has received support from the Andalusian and Asturian rural development networks, as well as those of Navarre and Catalonia, which shared specific examples of legal instruments being implemented in their respective autonomous communities. Likewise, the European Commission and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food (MAPA) presented new developments and upcoming activities related to LEADER.

Program

The day kicked off with María Gafo Gómez-Zamalloa, from the European Commission's (EC) Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, who provided extensive details in her talk on "New developments regarding the LEADER approach in the EU context and an update on upcoming activities." Gafo explained the key figures on LEADER in the CAP 2023-2027:

• A LEADER budget of 7.7% of the EAFRD, which translates to €5 billion.
• 65% of the rural population must be covered by LEADER during the period 23-27

Thus, Gafo emphasized that LEADER's added value for the EC must always be focused on social capital and local governance, without ever forgetting LEADER's objective of creating networks at the local level.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food (MAPA) outlined some of the milestones LEADER will work on in the coming period, many of which involve a generational renewal perspective that facilitates the incorporation of young people into both the land and decision-making within their own territories.

By ARA (Association for Rural Development of Andalusia) The floor was opened for regional interventions with the presentation "Legal instruments in the 2014-2022 programming period. Lessons from experience and proposals for the future" , Given by Pedro Fernández Menéndez, ARA project coordinator. Fernández opened his talk by recalling the reality: "Each autonomous community develops LEADER in its own way," leaving this reflection open for the debate on whether or not LEADER can be centralized at the state level.

This was followed by presentations from the rural development networks of Asturias, Navarre, and Catalonia, which concluded that the future of LEADER lies in:

• The reduction of bureaucracies , both for the GAL and for the projects they grant
• Cooperation between GAL and territorial projects
• Search for new ways to revitalize the territory

The day also included a practical group session, with the aim of sharing problems and solutions, as well as resolving questions regarding the development of legal instruments related to the implementation of LEADER.

All the presentations, as well as the documentation generated by the program, can be found here . The event has also been recorded for broadcast on our YouTube channel.