Last 26th November, in the framework of the LEADER/CLLD 2019 Conference, the General Assembly (GA) of the Portuguese presidency of ELARD met in Amarante, Portugal, with representatives of 19 networks (*) of Local Action Groups.
The main point for this meeting’s agenda was the election of the presidency, vice-presidency(ies) and the recomposition of the council. Accordingly, Marion Eckardt, Manager of LAG Halland, is the newly elected president of ELARD for the two-year period of 2020/2021. The Vice-presidency will be held both by the German LEADER Association (BAGLAG), represented by its president Harmut Berndt, and by the Red Española de Desarrollo Rural (REDR), also represented by its president Secundino Caso. Besides the president and vice-presidents, the council is formed of the Latvian Rural Forum, represented by Anita Selicka, the Irish Local Development Network, represented by Terry Keenan, the Danish LAG’s, represented by Kirsten Birke Lund, the National Network of Local Action Groups of the Czech Republic, represented by Radim Srsen.
The prime concerns of the next presidency are as follows:
- to reinforce advocacy;
- to strengthen the Elard network by maintaining the members and searching for the accession of more;
- to encourage knowledge transfer;
- and to guarantee financial sustainability and stability.
Another key feature of the GA was the application from the Georgian LEADER Network (GALAG) leading to the extension of ELARD, joined from now on by 27 countries.
Finally, ELARD GA approved unanimously the election of Marion Eckardt as well as the application of the Georgian LEADER Network.
(*) Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.