The purpose of this paper is to present the possibilities of EU financial support to Polish agriculture and rural areas in the context of their multi-functional development. This direction of evolution should be stimulated by instruments restructuring and modernizing agriculture. These ideas are included in the strategie documents which define the adoptation of the EU cohesion policy and Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) in Poland. This refers to the National Development Plan (for two time periods: one document for 2004-2006 and the other one for 2007-2013), the Sector Operational Program “Restructuring and modernizing the food sector and rural development” and the Rural Development Plan. These plans are based on co-financing investments in agriculture and its environment, together with the realization of widely comprehended rural development programs - subsidies for farmers who implement appropriate measures. The efficiency of their implementation and conseąuently the possibilities of receiving huge EU financial transfers are conditional on the effective functioning of Polish institutions and administration.
The Commission’s Proposal to the Gothenburg European Council - “A Sustainable Europę for a Better World: A European Union Strategy for Sustainable Development” was prepared and published in 2001 to complete the Lisbon Strategy. The generał goal - to become the most competitiue, knowledge-based economy in the world market - has been supplemented by the dimension of sustainable development. Due to this, the Lisbon Strategy aims at economic growth and more effective job creation, as well as providing people with a better standard of living in an environmentally and socially sustainable way. In the long-term, growth and social cohesion must go hand in hand with environmental protection. The purposes of this paper are: - Identification of the ecological aspects of the EU Strategy for Sustainable Development which are connected with agriculture; - describing the implications for Poland in the context of current policy.