ABSTRACT
This chapter sheds some light on the interaction and cooperation between decision-making and managing authorities. It discusses whether the managing authorities were in a dominant position or whether the relations were some multi-level governance scholars perceive the EU's multi-level system of governance, structured without hierarchies or an accumulation of power in the national LEADER+ setting. Interviewees from several Employment and Economic Development Centres and German decision-making authorities were asked to characterise their cooperation with the managing authority. The impression received from Germany after a number of interviews with decision-makers, LAG members and Commission officials was very different and much further from the ideal of a non-hierarchical, functional type of cooperation than was the case in Finland. Some interviewees perceived mistrust by the managing authority towards the decision-making authorities and lack of understanding. As interviewees from German decision-making authorities criticised the administrative practices of managing authorities, they were asked to provide a more detailed evaluation of their daily cooperation with them.
