1 Wladyslaw Piskorz Head of Unit ‘Urban development, territorial cohesion’ European Commission Directorate-General for Regional Policy Seminar organised by the CEMR, COSLA and AMR Brussels 29 November 2011 “Local development as a key pillar of post-2013 EU integrated territorial policies”

2 Endogenous development Community led Area-based Bottom-up Integrated approach Community-led local development: key features

3 Community-led local development Past and present EU experiences Broader local development approach EQUAL (partnerships), Territorial Employment Pacts Urban Community Initiatives (integrated approach & community involvement), mainstream cohesion policy programmes for (eg. community development in Northern Ireland) Community-led local development Roots in LEADER (EAFRD) and Axis 4 of the EFF

4 Community-led local development At present local action groups of EAFRD and EFF potentially benefit from other EU Funds, but not in a coordinated way The common approach for all policies as set out in the proposed provisions will enable Member States/regions and local action groups (LAGs) to coordinate the integrated use of all CSF Funds

5 Common strategic approach Legal proposals by the CSF Funds for –A common instrument and goal of the CSF funds to support community-led local development, based on a single set of rules with policy-specific features Cohesion Policy, Rural Development, Maritime and Fisheries

6 Definition – Art. 28 § 1 (a)Focused on specific sub-regional territories, which can be urban, rural, coastal, cross-border or a mix of several (b)Community-led: implemented by the local community through public-private partnerships - cannot be implemented by the municipality alone (c)Carried out through integrated and multi-sectoral area based local development strategies: (selected jointly under the responsibility of the relevant managing authorities; Art. 29.3) (d)Takes into consideration local needs and potential, including local innovation, networking, cooperation

7 Guiding principle – Art. 28 § 2 Consistency and coordination of the support to CLLD between the CSF Funds  ensured through coordination of: –Capacity building –Selection and approval of the local development strategies –Funding of the implementation of the LDS

8 Management at the level of Member States/regions Local development strategies are selected for EU funding under the responsibility of the relevant managing authorities (Art. 29.3) Strategies can be financed from one or several EU Funds in parallel (Art. 29.5)  “Multi-funding” as an option For simplification, a a „lead Fund“ can be designated in the case of multi-fund strategies (Art ) covering for the management costs  choice of the lead Fund depends on the activities foreseen and the area in question

9 Local action group ERDF, CF ESFEAFRD EMFF Local governmentsLocal entrepreneursLocal NGOs, civil society LOCAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY Project 3 EAFRD Project 3 EMFF Running costs, animation, networking Possibly though „lead Fund “ Project 1 ERDF Project 2 ESF Example of a „multi-fund“ CLLD strategy

10 Local development strategies Requirements (Art. 29.1): Definition of the area and population covered by the strategy (subject to delegated acts, Art.29.6); Analysis of the development needs and potential of the area, including SWOT Description of the strategy and its objectives, a description of the integrated and innovative character of the strategy, including clear and measurable targets for outputs or results. Description of the process of community involvement in the development of the strategy; Action plan demonstrating how objectives are translated into actions; Description of the management and monitoring arrangementsof the strategy, demonstrating the capacity of the local action group to implement the strategy, and a description of specific arrangements for evaluation; Financial plan of the strategy, including the planned allocation of each of the CSF Funds.

11 Selection/approval process of local strategies - Art. 29 §2 to 5 MS define selection criteria Selection undertaken under the responsibility of relevant managing authorities (jointly) The decision to approve a local development strategy by the managing authority should: –set out the allocations of each CSF Fund –set out the roles of the authorities responsible for the implementation of the relevant programmes for all implementation tasks relating to the strategy Decision on “lead Fund” at the level of each LDS (Art. 29.4) LDS should be approved by the end of 2015 to allow sufficient time for implementation

12 Local action groups (LAGs) – Art. 30 Legally constituted structure or lead partner in administrative and financial matters (Art. 30.2) Composition: no interest group should represent more than 49% of voting rights (part of the CLLD principle; Art. 28.1) Project selection – at least 50% of the votes from non-public sector partners Local action groups should at least: –Carry out capacity building actions for local actors –Draw up project selection criteria, assess and select operations for financing under the local development strategy (… role of the managing authority in the approval of the projects remains an administrative and political choice in each MS, see Art.30.3 f) –Monitor the implementation of the local development strategy and the operations supported, evaluation activities Local action groups can fulfil additional functions

13 Interventions eligible under community-led local development Art. 31 The CSF Funds can cover: costs of preparatory support implementation of operations under the local development strategy preparation and implementation of cooperation activities of the local action group running costs and animation of the local development strategy up to the limit of 25 % of the total public expenditure incurred within the local development strategy

14 Community-led local development under the Cohesion Policy Local development approach is optional for ERDF and ESF. Member State indicates in the OP whether and where community led local development will be implemented - can be entire territory Incentives: –Where MS decides to create a dedicated priority axis for community- led local development, the co-financing rate can be increased by 10% points; –Reimbursement of management costs of the local action groups who apply for support from several EU Funds through the ”lead Fund” option; –For ERDF and ESF, all actions under community-led local development can be financed under thematic objective 9: promoting social inclusion and combating poverty ERDF: investment priority 9b “support for physical and economic regeneration of deprived urban and rural communities”, regardless of the nature of interventions involved ESF: priority (c) - (vi): “community-led local development”

15 LEADER – Community-led local development under EAFRD LEADER is compulsory with at least 5% of the EAFRD funding per Member State. MS indicates in the Rural Development Programme where LEADER (CLLD under EAFRD) will be implemented - can be the entire territory In accordance with Art. 28.5, LEADER is not restricted to any of the EU priorities for rural development

16 FARNET – community-led local development under the EMFF Objectives: local development strategies shall –maximise the participation of the fisheries sector in the sustainable development of fisheries areas; –ensure that local communities fully exploit and benefit from the opportunities offered by maritime and coastal development. No ring-fencing but Axis 4 of current EFF is 13%

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