This paper will address the changes the CAP post‐2013 may bring to its second pillar in three EU countries with very different institutional settings (France, Italy and Spain). After the presentation of the legislative package put forward by the European Commission, a debate emerged in these countries on how to define rural development strategies for the period 2014‐2020. The presentation will discuss positive innovations and main challenges of the new rural development policies with respect to what happened in the 2007‐2013 period. In particular, the paper intends to focus on the following issues: 1)which relevant changes have been introduced in the framework of rules in the field of rural development; 2)how these changes can influence the preparation of the next programming period 2014-2020, looking more in depth at three countries (Italy, Spain and France);3) what lessons can be drawn from this reform and the initial implementation in three countries in terms of institutional changes and their likely success and failure.