The article focuses on the European rural development program LEADER and its implementation in former GDR rural areas. The three studied regions are affected both by the heritage of the socialist era and peripheralization, defined as a combination of population departures, economic weakening, political dependence and stigmatization. The article questions the extent to which these factors might prevent local stakeholders from getting involved in the LEADER European development program. It is here assumed that the program is inadequate for the targeted regions, as the most disadvantaged regions, which would particularly need the program, are the least able to use LEADER as an instrument of development. They have to face difficulties in too many fields to implement concrete and efficient endogenous development strategies. The interregional competition increases therefore inequalities between disadvantaged regions and the prosperous ones. After a study of several profiles of stakeholders in the studied regions, showing different level of involvement, the strategies of circumvention and instrumentalization of the program’s rules are highlighted. A particular attention is paid to the financial rules of the LEADER regions and how they tend to increase inequalities between regions but also between small cities within those regions. The role of personal acquaintances is also pointed out as a significant advantage. The methodological framework is a mix of qualitative methods including repeated semi-directive interviews with regional managers, observation of rural development reunions, as well as analysis of the development strategies. This fieldwork took place over several months in 2018 and 2019 in three LEADER regions of Mecklenburg-West-Pomerania.