The new European Council Regulation on support for rural development (EC) No. 1698/2005 has opened up the opportunity for two important innovations for the design and implementation of agrienvironmental measures: local action groups (LAG) according to the LEADER approach and calls for tender....

Since 1992 the provision of agri-environmental schemes (AESs) has been obligatory for member states of the European Union. However, decisions concerning the actual design of schemes and measures are left to member states who have to integrate this policy within their administrative structures...

In this article the authors focus on two important innovations for agri-environmental measures in the new council regulation: The implementation of local action groups and a call for tenders. The article describes how relevant actors assess the innovations. The results are based on 276...

Despite a total budget increase for rural development in the new programming period (2007- 2013), for most older Member States in the now expanded European Union the multi-annual spending plan for the period 2007-2013 predicts a substantial decrease of the budget for rural development and thus...