Rural development is a particularly important branch of the European Union policy. This is mainly because over half of the population of the member states of the European Union live on rural land, which accounts for 90% of its area. Rural development programme is one of the priorities of the European Union Policy. Both the Rural Development Plan (RDP 2004-2007) [Plan Rozwoju Obszarów Wiejskich...2004) and Programme (RDP 2007-20l3) [Plan Rozwoju Obszarów Wiejskich...2007) are documents which set out the goals, principles and priorities of supporting rural development in countries. This paper aims to present the similarities and differences between the Rural Development Plan for the years 2004-200 , and a currently valid document, i.e. the Rural Development Programme for the years 2007-20l3, as well as to analyse the consumption of funds from those programmes by the provinces of Poland.

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