EN[...] Research object – EU support for rural businesses in Lithuania during the period 2000-2010 programmes. Research purpose – according to the regulations on HU support funds the purpose of this research is to analyze the tendencies of the development of rural non-agricultural businesses. Research Tasks. Do a survey of the regulations on EU support funds. Compare rural businesses' support rates in SAPARD, CPD, and RDP programmes. Evaluate the influence of EU support on development of rural businesses. Research Methods. Methods of regulations, statistical data analysis, and logical comparison are used in this work. The data is taken from the Department of Statistics, from some publications of EU countries, the Ministries of Agriculture and Finance, as well as from the Lithuanian Institutes of Agriculture and Agrarian Economics. To summarise, trade in rural areas depends on various factors: specific rural development policy, timely information, promotion motivation, individual initiative, etc. EU support for rural businesses is relatively not so important. The tendencies of the absorption of EU support show that the use of EU support helps to increase villagers' motivation and activity in their businesses development.On the grounds of the analysis of regional absorption of EU support, a conclusion may be drawn that the regions with negative conditions for agricultural activities are more active to use resources for their businesses than the others. Rural tourism in making new places of work and getting extra income is becoming one of the most popular businesses. Furthermore, traditional types of agriculture, for example fresh and healthy food products, and some leisure activities, as water sport or others, could be combined there. The creation of Craft Centres or Craft Yards helps to uphold traditional crafts, to preserve ethnic identity, and to increase the profit of villagers, however, despite the exclusive conditions in receiving EU support (75 % of the value is given for an investment project to cover) it is not popular enough though.