Comments on the European Court of Auditors’ Special Report on the Leader Programme

Concerning the efficiency of the different development methods, especially the definition of added value, neither science nor practice has so far established a universally accepted opinion. A special report of the European Court of Auditors in July 2022 on the “other values” of the LEADER/CLLD development method also pointed out which factors that are closely linked to added value might be missing from an EU evaluation. These factors are the conditions that, in a highly logical correlation, can guarantee the success of a development method. The study, while presenting the most important conditions for the efficiency of the LEADER method, evaluates and responds to the Court of Auditors’ Special Report, which does not sufficiently address these issues. In doing so, it contributes to a multi-faceted presentation of the role of the LEADER method in development policy and to the formulation of the reader’s own, independent judgement.