Since the on-going funding period 2007-2013 the former European Community Initiative Leader has become a constituent part of Rural Development Policies. Above all the mainstreaming of Leader into the Rural Development Programme (RDP) as axis 4 has both significantly changed the level of funding and the way in which Leader is executed in comparison with the previous period (2000-2006). This paper discusses the impact and consequences of this mainstreaming process by the Austrian example, mainly because there are clearly concerns that the EU-wide successful Leader formula of bottom-up rural development will be replaced by a pronounced top-down approach in the new programme.