A new declaration calling for an improved LEADER/CLLD implementation framework was recently published. It resulted from a stakeholder-driven process at the Renewing LEADER/CLLD for 2020+ conference organised by the European LEADER Association for Rural Development (ELARD) in November 2016 in Tartu, Estonia.

ELARD’s ‘Tartu declaration’ calls for a decrease in bureaucracy and a simplified multi-funded CLLD through a single funding source managed by one coordinating body and following a unique set of rules at EU level.