ABSTRACT
After Hungary’s accession to the European Union in 2002, LEADER became a key model for rural development, thus providing the tools to local action groups (LAGs) to define the targets for local development (see also Csurgó and Kovách in Chapter 4 of this volume). FA LEADER, 1 founded in 2008, is based on a consortium of 44 resource-poor, small to larger size municipalities in the areas surrounding an industrial city in northeast Hungary. The strategy of the FA LEADER is to strengthen the position of municipalities and the citizens by increasing their energy self-sufficiency and decreasing their dependency on large-scale suppliers of energy in monopoly positions through the utilisation of renewable energy sources. Further, the FA LEADER’s energy villages are to utilise ‘clean’, renewable energy sources, including agricultural waste, warm sources, wind, kitchen waste, manure, water streams and thermo energy from mines for the production of energy and heat. These energy sources are not being utilised at the moment and getting rid of the waste is an expense for the communities. Thirdly, the project aims to develop the communities through the creation of new workplaces for inhabitants with low levels of education and those who are qualified but currently unemployed. Fourthly, FA LEADER aims to increase the quality of life of the inhabitants through cleaning the communities of garbage and improving slum areas where inhabitants had no resources or a previous willingness to engage in such activities. This would also improve the possibilities for developing village tourism.
