The European Commission’s rural development policy is one of the two pillars of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). It helps meeting the challenges faced by rural areas and contributes to their sustainable development. Support is provided for rural development programmes defined at national or in some cases regional level, which for a certain number of years (now: 2007-2013) set out the measures to be undertaken and the funding allocated to each of these measures. In its early days, rural development policy was essentially sectoral (dealing mainly with agricultural structures), with limited territorial aspects. Agenda 2000 established rural development policy as the second pillar of the CAP and brought rural development under a single regulation to apply across the whole of the European Union for the period 2000-2006. In addition to agricultural restructuring, it now also addressed environmental concerns and the wider needs of rural areas. The guiding principles were those of decentralization of responsibilities – thus strengthening subsidiary and partnership – and flexibility of programming, based on a ‘menu’ of measures to be targeted and implemented according to Member States’ specific needs. In 2003, the mid-term review of the CAP added four new measures to promote quality and animal welfare, and help for farmers to meet new EU standards. It also strengthened rural development policy by providing more EU money for rural development through a reduction in direct payments (‘modulation’) for bigger farms. In September 2005, the Council of Ministers adopted a rural development regulation for the period 2007-2013. Since then, rural development has been implemented through one fund, one management and control system and one type of programming. The aims of the policy have been simplified and clarified around three clearly defined economic, environmental and territorial.