(13 November 2018) – French rural areas are at risk of losing much of the €700 million provided for in the LEADER programme through a lack of regional programming and advice. For the French association of local action groups, this is not Europe’s fault.

Out of €700 million available, only €10 million has been paid, and just €70 million has been programmed for the 2014-2020 period.

While Latvia has 25% of its credits paid, Estonia 27%, Finland 29%, the UK 31% and Denmark 43%, and the top 10 countries have programming rates between 80% and 100%. France is second to last in terms of payment, ahead of only Slovakia, with just 10% of its €700 million programmed.

How did it come to this? The list of obstacles that slowed down the French 2014-2020 programme is long: transfer of the managing authority to the regions, which was decided by the government under François Hollande; the tug-of-war between the regions and the Ministries of Agriculture and Territorial Cohesion over the payment authority; blockages caused by the Osiris software; and the reorganisation phase of the regions following the merger. (La Gazette.fr)

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