There is no single unified European agriculture area or identical rural areas, but there are a number of such areas with considerable diversity existing between countries and regions. It is the goal of structural policy to support the restructuring and modernisation of economies in the EU countries, eliminating differences in the levels of socioeconomic development between regions. Many actions have been initiated in the member states with the aim of supporting the development of rural areas. The aim of this paper is to present the differences between implementation of three activities aimed at supporting the development of rural areas in EU countries, with Poland and the Czech Republic as examples. This paper analyses 3 basic supportive actions, which include: direct farming subsidies, giving young farmers a head start and modernisation of farms. The amount of assistance for such actions in Poland and in the Czech Republic has been determined. The amount of assistance (converted into euros) and the principles of granting assistance are compared.

39-53