The paper presents an analysis of the Fischler reform, while the new rural development policy for the seven year period 2007-2013 is still to be defined and other important deadlines are going to mark the near future: WTO negotiation, new Financial Perspectives, new European structural and cohesion policy, and the enlargement process is rolling on. Furthermore, several actors on the scene are new: new Member States, new Commission, new Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Affairs, new European Parliament. The main objective of this paper is to provide an overall evaluation of the ongoing reform process, pointing out the main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, for animating the scientific and political debate on the further steps on CAP reform, towards a new rural development policy.