To facilitate access to support for businesses, municipalities and non-governmental organisations, as well as to promote the involvement of local communities in rural development, on Tuesday, 28 July, the Cabinet of Ministers approved amendments to the procedures for granting State and European Union support under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) for the implementation of LEADER projects.
In the future, local communities will be able to implement small-scale local amenity improvement projects more easily, as in-kind contributions – voluntary work or unpaid work – may also be used as a contribution to project financing. Such contributions may account for up to 10% of the total eligible project costs. At the same time, conditions for business projects have been clarified, including the procedure for assessing company turnover, the assessment of the criteria for identifying an undertaking in difficulty has been removed, conditions for implementing small-scale projects have been eased, and the types of construction costs eligible for support within projects have been specified. In addition, the age threshold for receiving support under Youth Initiative projects has been raised to 30 years, aligning it with amendments to the Youth Law.
To reduce the administrative burden, the project submission and evaluation procedures have also been simplified. In the future, a self-assessment of the project’s compliance with the evaluation criteria will only need to be submitted where required by the local action group under a specific call for project applications. Simplified cost options will be applied to solar panel systems and electricity storage systems. Local action groups will also publish information more frequently on available funding under project calls lasting longer than 30 days. At the same time, several project implementation conditions have been clarified to ensure clearer and more efficient administration of support for both project applicants and the Rural Support Service.
This intervention is implemented using the LEADER approach, also known as the community-led local development (CLLD) approach. Decisions on granting support are made based on local development strategies for 2023–2027 developed by local action groups. Currently, 33 local action groups operate throughout Latvia – associations or foundations that bring together representatives of the public and private sectors and jointly address local development issues within their respective territories, including by organising calls for project applications.
The support is financed from the EAFRD within the framework of Latvia’s Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan 2023–2027. This support promotes business development, improves local infrastructure and enables the implementation of initiatives important for local communities.
The amendments to Cabinet Regulation No. 580 “Procedures for Granting State and European Union Support under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development Intervention ‘Implementation of Actions in accordance with the Community-led Local Development Strategy, including Cooperation Activities and Their Preparation’” will enter into force on the day following their publication in the official publication Latvijas Vēstnesis.
