The partnership principle is at the heart of the efforts of the EU to introduce multilevel governance into the implementation of the European policies. It includes a mandate to member states to build amongst others a partnership with economic and social partners and relevant bodies representing the civil society. Local action groups (LAGs) implementing local development strategies under the Community-led local development approach supports by the ESI Funds are partnerships which include public and private partners and are supposed to mirror the socio-economic area they operate in. This article reflects on the links between the partnership principle and CLLD, which is based on the LEADER approach introduced in the late 1980s. Even though both the partnership principle and CLLD/LEADER are not interdependent, but have an autonomous rationale, they are both a message from Europe to foster citizens’ participation in policy making and implementation.