The European Union commences another budget period (2007-2013). This means significant changes for agriculture and rural areas with respect to the manner and the scope of financing of this sector, which was started in 2003 by the Luxembourg reform. The objective of the article is to analyse the introduced changes and evaluation of their results and potential impact on the Polish agriculture and rural areas. Changes in the organisation of the so-called agricultural funds, their scope and the manner of management bring consequences in the form of necessary changes in national legislation, as well as the institutional system, established in the first half of the current decade. The author analyses the effects of these changes on Polish agriculture and legal and organisational system, as well as potential effects of the available financial funds on transformations of the Polish agricultural business and Polish rural areas in the next years.