IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LEADER PROGRAMME IN THE OBSERVED EU COUNTRIES

With the reform of the Structural Funds in 1987. the concept of ' Community Initiative ' has been introduced, which enabled the EU Commission to provide funds for measures of particular interest to the community, among others, the LEADER initiative. This type of approach relies on the development and implementation of local development strategies that enable the integral implementation of economic and social cohesion, implemented by local action groups (LAG). The level of performance of the LEADER program is different in EU countries. This research paper represents the comparative analysis and an overview of the implementation of the LEADER in the European Union.