ABSTRACT
This paper deals with the integration of rural policies starting from a new component within the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), that indicates the change this policy has undergone since the 1980s, that is, the agri-environmental policy as a pillar of the reform of the CAP in 1992 and its continuation under Agenda 2000. The starting point of the analysis is the diagnosis that European policies move from a sectorial approach to one that is more territorial. Modernized, intensive farming is the mainstream model, but agri-environmental policy with the core of Regulation 2078/92 is designed to support four types of environmentally sound agriculture. In France the introduction of Regulation 2078/92 has contributed to a rather quick acceptance of the agri-environmental policy by the main agricultural unions and interest groups. In some regions in East Germany the large areas covered by the programmes are a direct consequence of the participation of large-scale holdings resulting from the reorganization of socialist agriculture.
