Brussels, 18/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 14 April during the Agriculture Council in Luxembourg, Dacian Cioloº, the European commissioner for agriculture, admitted that the European Court of Justice ruling on the European programme for distributing food to poor people in the EU could have a rather significant impact on aid to the poor in 2012, because there will be very low stocks or none at all available to the public next year. On 12 April, the European Court of Justice (in response to a complaint lodged by Germany) contradicted the European Commission and ruled that most of the food allocated in this programme should not come from public stocks (EUROPE 10359). Intervention stocks are almost empty. The European Commission, however, has not given up on its aim to retain a social dimension within the common agricultural policy (CAP) on food production, in addition to economic considerations.
The commissioner declared that this issue was of great concern to him because aid mechanisms to the poor may not be covered next year. Nonetheless, he is prepared to “identify solutions so that the social dimension is still included in the CAP”. The Commission is currently scrutinising the decision made by the European Court of Justice.
Last year, the Commission submitted a legislative proposal, which is currently being discussed at the Council. Around 20 countries support the Commission proposal, indicated the commissioner but “there are still countries opposing it”, such as Germany and the United Kingdom. Cioloº added: “I hope that we will make progress on the basis of the proposals made by the Commission”. In addition to the legal aspects, the aid programme to the poor has a high approval rating among the public. There is a whole range of non-governmental structures that have been developed to help millions of people who find it difficult to find enough food to eat. In addition to its economic and environmental aspects, the commissioner explained that “the CAP also has a social dimension that should be taken into account. I do not want this to be withdrawn. If the proposal requires further clarification, then this will be done.”
Given that intervention stocks have sharply declined, deliveries to the poor could be significantly reduced in 2002. According to the European Court of Justice (as opposed to the position argued by the Commission), the temporary availability of stocks has to be evaluated on an annual basis and not on long-term market perspectives. According to the judges at the Court, this will not affect the payments already made for 2009. This decision is not expected to have implications for the 2010 and 2011 programmes either because the level of stocks was high enough to cover these two periods. Complications, however, such as the reduction in funding, could begin in 2012 and continue over the years that follow because public stocks are now at their lowest levels. In principle, the 2012 framework is due to be adopted on 1 October 2011 and the first deliveries should begin (if everything goes according to plan) in the second quarter of 2012. (L.C./transl.fl)