Resumen

OLVERA HERNANDEZ, José Isabel; CAZORLA MONTERO, Adolfo  y  RAMIREZ VALVERDE, Benito. La política de desarrollo rural en la Unión Europea y la iniciativa LEADER, una experiencia de éxito. Región y sociedad [online]. 2009, vol.21, n.46, pp.03-25. ISSN 2448-4849.

This article describes the evolution of rural development policy in the European Union over the last forty years, with an emphasis on the LEADER (Liaison Entre Actions de Développement de l'Economie Rural) initiative.Three important stages have marked rural development policy. Each stage revisits the significant issues of the previous stage and new measures are added based on the priority objectives of the European Union's member countries. There is a direct relationship between rural development policy and structural funds policy, which seeks to maintain economic and social cohesion among the European countries, as well as finance actions based on priority objectives. The LEADER initiative is implemented according to this logic, with a regional focus aimed at less developed rural areas. In recent years, the model has been successful at achieving rural development in the diverse territories of the European Union.

Palabras llave : rural development; territory; structural funds; LEADER.