FARNET
Fisheries Areas Network

Cooperation - European overview

Cooperating with local groups from other territories can allow FLAGs to find the complementarities or critical mass to increase the impact of their actions. This can take place among neighbouring FLAGs, for example in order to protect or promote a common resource; at national level, for example, around a common theme, such as pesca-tourism, which might lead to a new market activity and potentially the modification of national legislation; or at transnational level, to address common, often basin-wide, challenges.

By working with actors from other areas, FLAGs can lever in additional ideas and expertise to a project and increase their capacity to react to trends that go beyond the local level. Cooperation might involve the development of a common activity or product, or focus on the exchange of experience or transfer of knowledge from one area to another. FLAGs may implement cooperation projects themselves or support a relevant local organisation to do so. 

Synergies can be obtained among different fisheries areas, but also with rural and urban areas by working with other CLLD groups, such as LEADER LAGs, as well as with non-EU funded groups, provided they implement CLLD-type strategies through similar bottom-up public-private partnerships. This offers an ocean of opportunities for local stakeholders. Examples of cooperations initiatives can be founf here.

EU legislation for the 2014-2020 period (CPR Art 32, 34 and 35 and EMFF Art 62 and 64) made provisions for FLAGs to cooperate across Europe and also with countries outside the EU. In the 2021-2027 period, cooperation continues to be an integral part of the CLLD approach. (F)LAGs have the exclusive responsibility for selecting the cooperation projects they wish to support under their local development strategy (CPR 2021/1060, Art: 33.3 and 34.1).

Cooperation provisions around Europe

This Cooperation Landscape - MS overview 2020 Summary table (pdf) summary table offers a brief overview of how cooperation was organised in the 2014-2020 programming period in the different Member States implementing CLLD under the EMFF.

Additional resources

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Publication date: 
09/12/2021
PDF Version