LEADER EU program and its governance. A fuzzy assessment model

In regard to the LEADER program (European Union initiative for rural development), in the paper the authors propose a model for assessing the governance system of Local Action Groups (LAGs) in terms of structure, decision making processes and principles that ensure a clear and transparent activity thus creating significant value for the community. Governance, in particular, is a highly important theme when it evaluates the impacts of LEADER measures: if the quality of their governance is high, they could contribute to make the rural development process more efficient in each region of EU. The empirical literature on this subject is not well developed and the authors hope and expect that this new assessment model will produce important ideas for making governance of the LAGs more effective. It is based on a Fuzzy Expert System and here are presented results for Puglia (Italy) LAGs.