EStIF3|2018 223 From LEADER to CLLD From LEADER to CLLD: The Adoption of the New Fund Opportunities and of Their Local Development Options Loris Servillo, Martijn De Bruijn* In the 2014-20 Cohesion Policy programming period, the Member States and regions are re- quested to address their specific territorial challenges and needs through targeted invest- mentsusinganintegratedapproachtoterritorialdevelopment.Amongthenewdeliverytools tosupporttheimplementationofthisapproachisCommunity-ledLocalDevelopment(CLLD), which was introduced in the context of Cohesion Policy extending the already existing LEADER approach for rural development and fishery policy. Two relevant financial innova- tions characterise CLLD in comparison to LEADER: a wider financial support, including ERDF and ESF; and the possibility to integrate the available Funds in support of a Local De- velopment Strategy. The paper addresses this innovative dimension of the CLLD initiative, sketching an overview of its implementation using ERDF and ESF across the EU. It reflects on the adoption of the various options, and on its national and regional patterns. The investigation highlights the positive response across the EU, even if the potential innovation that the CLLD initiative could have unleashed in terms of integrated local development strategies does not appear to be fully exploited. Resistance towards innovation, technical and administrative aspects related to the rules, and specific national and regional attitudes are presented as main fac- tors for the mixed adoption. I. Introduction In the current EU programming period, Communi- ty-led Local Development (CLLD) was introduced in the Common Provision Regulation (CPR No 1303/2013)asanewtoolintendedtoaddresslocalde- velopment. As explicitly indicated in its acronym, CLLDfostersanintegratedapproachtoterritorialde- velopmentthroughtheinvolvementofalargerepre- sentationoflocalactors,andawidefinancialsupport tothestrategyimplementationandrelatedparticipa- tory process. Moreover, as mentioned in the “CLLD guidelinesforlocalactors”,itshouldactivatenoton- ly an empowerment process of local actors, but also seek additional multiplier effects on local develop- ment and mainstreaming programmes 1 . CLLD builds upon the previous LEADER pro- gramme, which is a well-established instrument in ruraldevelopmentthatrepresentedtheflagshipofa new rural development paradigm 2 , with important * Loris Servillo, Marie Curie Research Fellow, University College of London – Bartlett School of Planning (UK). For correspondence: l.servillo@ucl.ac.uk; loris.servillo@gmail.com. Martijn De Bruijn, Civil Servant in the Flemish Administration – Environment and Spatial Planning Department (BE); Senior Con- sultant on Territorial and Urban Policy; former seconded National Expert in DG REGIO – Competence Centre Social Inclusion, Territorial and Urban Development. For correspondence: mjp.debruijn@gmail.com. This paper is part of L. Servillo’s research project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 749899. 1 European Commission. (2014). Guidance on Community-led Local Development (CLLD) for local actors. Brussels, European Union. 2 OECD. (2016). The New Rural Paradigm: Policies and Gover- nance. OECD publishing.