1. Implementation of the Leader Axis in the EU
Louis Claude Boisdequin
DG Agriculture and rural development, European Commission
International Conference September 2009, Senec.

2. Health Check and Recovery Package revisions no taken into account
FINANCIAL DATA ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AXIS 4 (programmed expenditure) –
Health Check and Recovery Package revisions no taken into account 2 2

3. Rural Development Policy 2007-2013:
* Technical assistance + Complements to direct payments for Bulgaria and Romania : 3%

4. Budget of the Leader Axis
Budget amount
Public: billion
of which EAFRD: billion
Private: billion
Total: billion
Relative importance of measures in %
Local development strategies : 77, 5%
Measure 411 : 9,5%
Measure 412 : 3,0 %
Measure 413 : 65,0%
Cooperation : 5,0%
LAG management,
skill acquisition and animation 16,5%

5. Axis 4: Leader -EAFRD

6. PROGRAMMING APPROACH OF THE MEMBER STATES6 6

7. Total EAFRD contributions allocated to axis 4 by Member State (absolute value and share of total expenditure) 7 7

8. EAFRD-Expenditure for Leader as % of Total by Member States
Old MS
New MS
Ø 6,06 %

9. Axis 4 implementation: choices of MS (1)
All measures under RD can be implemented through Leader: BE (Wallonia) CY, DE (Saarland, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen/Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein), IT (Lazio), LU, RO, UK (Scotland, Wales)
Selected measures from all axes can be implemented through Leader: AT, CZ, FI, FR (continent), DE (Nordrhein-Westfalen, Thüringen), IT (Basilicata, Umbria), ES (La Rioja, Cantabria, Andalucia, Galicia )
Only measures from axis 3 can be implemented through Leader: IE, PT, LV, BE (Flanders), DE (Hamburg), IT (Emilia Romagna, Toscana, Valle D’Aosta, Sicilia, Sardegna), LT, PL, SK .  9 9

10. Axis 4 implementation: choices of MS (2)
- Measures or axes exclusively implemented through Leader:
Axis 3 as such: IE, PT, ES (Murcia)
All measures of axis 3: UK (Northern Ireland)
Some measures of Axis 3: DE (Baden-Württemberg), IT (Piemonte, Abruzzo, Umbria, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Liguria, Puglia, Sicilia, Sardegna), ES (Baleares, Madrid, Asturias, Valencia)
Measure 227: IT (Calabria) 10 10

11. IMPLEMENTATION OF AXIS 4 (LEADER) IN MS State of play11 11

12. Selection of LAGs TOTAL NUMBER OF LAGs
Number of LAGs already selected: including 15 in Slovak Republic
Expected number of LAGs to be selected: 2.125
LAGs selection process: state of play
6 out of 27 Member States have not completed the selection process (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Italy , Malta, Romania, Spain)
- RO and BG by the end of 2010 and 2011 . 12 12

13. Most relevant activities carried out by NRNs in relation to Leader axis:
1) Training / Capacity building:
Training activities, meetings, seminars for LAGs coordinators and managers (BE-Flanders, DE, DK, EE, FI, IT); assessing training needs and develop a training project (UK – Northern Ireland); coordination meetings between LAGs, Ministry of Agriculture, Regions (DK).
2) Activities related to cooperation:
Training in cooperation issues (FR, IT); cooperation events (UK – Wales).
3) Information / communication activities:
Website development, publications, seminars, events… 13

14. Content of LAGs training
(Animation Activating activities (FI)
Management of project Eligibility (CZ, EE, FI,IE,AT) Project documentation and application process (CZ,EE,FI, LU) Project assessment (EE, PT,AT) IT tools for the management of RD measures and/or project assessment (IE, IT) Controls (IE) Public procurement (PT);
LAG Management (CY) Local procedure of LAGs (LT) Presentation of running costs accounts (LU) Management skills (AT).

15. Training of LAG permanent staff and administrations will be crucial
Assessing Leader
Leader poses challenges to local competences with new groups and new issues (wider applicability) and to administrations in dealing with a different procedure (bottom up, innovation and integrated approach)
Training of LAG permanent staff and administrations will be crucial
Ongoing evaluation, increasing focus, self evaluation, building on Leader experience, continuing the experiment and developing the learning.
The critical role of networking in this and the role of the Rural Evaluation Network much of which is based in Leader experience e.g. the two priority themes

16. Assessing Impact of Leader
Difficult to estimate Leader potential in the absence of analysis of the content of local strategies and composition of local partnerships
Leader remains largely limited to small scale support with limited resources
Need to be able to assess real impact on LAG area, to measure progress in achieving locla strategy objectives but taking account of budgets which are not significantly increased
Local action groups must therefore optimise the use of resources (e.g. thematic concentration , the pursuit of innovation)
Self evaluation at LAG level will be critical in contributing to the measurement of success
Ongoing evaluation, increasing focus, self evaluation, building on Leader experience, continuing the experiment and developing the learning.
The critical role of networking in this and the role of the Rural Evaluation Network much of which is based in Leader experience e.g. the two priority themes

17. THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION. 17