European structural funds and rural development in New Member States -an analysis of two cases, Poland and Romania

By this study, the intention of the authors is to analyze the state of the agriculture in two New European Union (EU) Member States, the influence of the European structural funds, the perspectives of the rural economies in the frame of the new European regulations and the tendencies in rural development in the period 2007-2013. We will show the allocations and evolutions of the structural funds, their influence on economy, the main rural development programmes with direct impact on rural economy, the national programmes elaborated for achieving the principal goals of both countries and the main barriers which appeared in last years.