Brussels, 20/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - Despite the alarm being sounded by certain charities and pressure being exerted by a number of countries, the six EU member states opposed to continuing the European programme for distributing food to the most deprived stuck to their guns on Tuesday 20 September during the Agriculture Council. Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic (which form a minority block) reiterated their refusal to ratify a proposal that would enable this programme of aid to the most deprived people in Europe to be continued in 2012 and 2013. The Polish Presidency of the European Union is not without hope that a solution can be found during the next Agriculture Council on 20 October or even later in November or December. The stakes are high: this programme allows for 440,000 tonnes of food aid to be distributed to 18 million people in 20 EU countries.
The subject may be raised during the European Council on 17-18 October. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that “it is unacceptable that Europe abandons its weakest citizens. It is its responsibility to guarantee funding that enables charities everywhere in Europe to fulfil their important missions.” Faced with a crisis, this programme is “the tangible proof of the principle of solidarity in Europe”, explained Sarkozy. He would like a European agreement before the end of the year in order for the programme to be continued.
The six countries hostile to continuing the programme consider that this aid is covered by the social policy remit and not the common agricultural policy (CAP). Moreover, social policy is within the competencies of the member states, explained the German representative, Robert Kloos, Secretary of State, to the Agriculture Council. He pointed out that “in principle, aid to the deprived is a good thing, but this is the responsibility of the nation states”.
French Minister for Agriculture Bruno Le Maire, however, underlined that the problem is not a legal or financial one but a political one. He said that delaying the decision allows the worst to be avoided. He emphasised that they had a month to come up with convincing arguments and that in the event of failure, the French government would not leave the charities high and dry.
Marek Sawicki, Polish Minister for Agriculture, stated at the press conference: “No compromise has as yet been acknowledged but this will perhaps be the case later.” The acting president of the Council added: “We need to get back to the idea of European solidarity and the arguments put forward by the six countries are no longer pertinent.”
European Commissioner for Agriculture Dacian Cioloº was emphatic. He said that if the situation did not evolve, “it will be very difficult to explain why a programme with 25 years of history has been blocked in just two years because certain member states did not want to assume their political responsibility and are hiding behind all sorts of legal arguments that do not hold water”. He also stated: “To claim that it is because of Europe that this programme has been blocked, is unfair. The Commission and the EP have clearly spoken in favour of continuing the programme.” The Commission created the legal and financial conditions for the programme to be able to continue, even after the ruling by the EU Court. The commissioner said that “member states need to take a decision by qualified majority voting”. He said that he was prepared to proceed to technical adjustments to the proposal on the table, for example on co-funding, if this allowed for a compromise to be reached very soon. Indeed, several countries (Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Poland, Finland, Greece and Hungary) say that they would have problems with the project to introduce national co-funding.
Facts and brief history. This programme has become one of the main providers for European charity organisations. Of products distributed in 2010 by the European Food Banks Federation, 51% come from this programme. Following the ruling by the EU Court on 13 April, which judged illegal the provisions in the 2009 plan that envisaged purchasing products on the market, the 2012 programme was subsequently adopted with a very sharply reduced budget: €113.5 million, as opposed to the €500 million forecast. The Commission proposal to ensure the programme's continuation in 2012 and 2013 has been blocked since 2008 at Council level. The Commission amended this proposal in September 2010 to take into account the comments made by the Council and European Parliament. In 2013, it is likely that there will not be any product subject to public intervention. The programme therefore risks being reduced to nothing in 2013. In the context of the new multiannual financial framework (2014-2020), the Commission is proposing to include this programme in economic and social cohesion policy, with a budget of €2.5 billion, together with a specific legal basis. The EP is in favour of continuing the programme. It has already indicated that the opinion that it submitted in 2009 should be considered as a formal opinion of first reading.
The French delegation of the European Parliament considers that failure at the Council is “another example of the show of national individualism and selfishness in Europe, through the intervention of a European right which every day further buries the European project and its fundamental principle of solidarity”. Jean-Luc Bennahmias (ALDE, France), exclaimed: “It is quite simply scandalous that in this current period of crisis we are unable to ensure that a modest €500 million is given to help the most deprived people in Europe!” (LC/transl.fl)