Subject and purpose of work: The subject of the analysis is the concept of rural development in the European Union countries and its connection with the evolution of the common agricultural policy and the transformation of the cohesion policy. The aim of the study is to discover and assess the scale and method of supporting the rural development in the European Union countries through common agricultural policy and to present the underlying theoretical-cognitive and political-practical premises for shaping rural development strategies.
Materials and methods: The official documents and subject literature are submitted for critical analysis and evaluation by authors.
Results: This paper presents methods of defining and classifying rural areas and rural development through common agricultural policy and cohesion policy. It specifically outlines the concepts of multi-functional and intelligent development linked to the Europe 2020 strategy and the Cork political declarations. The new concept of smart villages and rural-urban partnership is also presented.
Conclusion: The processes of rural policy separation and the need for creating national methods of the coordination of community policies and the use of European funds are indicated.
