Spain, its regions and the EU 'LEADER ' initiative: some critical perspectives on its administration

This paper examines the development of the EU's LEADER Initiative for integrated rural development. It is argued that the policy process, specific to the LEADER Initiative, has to be understood in terms of the development ofa 'policy community ' in Brussels and beyond, engaged in policy developments informed by a clear 'integrationist ' philosophy. The paper goes on to examine the administrative arrangements created within Spain to implement the EU's LEADER Initiative for integrated rural development. The intention of the scheme's initiators in Brussels was that, in order to facilitate 'grass-roots', local development initiatives, the regional and provincial levels of administration would not be involved in the programme and that administration would take place through one national agency (IRYDA in the case of Spain). A question-naire survey and a series of in-depth interviews with appropriate officials at the European, national, regional and local (CEDER) levels revealed that, in several of the Spanish regions (autonomous communities), there has been a considerabl