Brussels, 15/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 15 December, European ministers for agriculture confirmed their political agreement on the continuation in 2012 and 2013 of the programme for distributing food to the poor in the EU. However, in compliance with a Franco-German compromise, this programme, funded under the common agricultural policy, will be scrapped at the end of 2013.
New programme provisions expand the range of foodstuffs concerned - now market purchases can complete intervention stocks which previously constituted the core of the programme. The programme gives preference to products from the EU.
The programme will be completely funded by the EU. The current budget line for the programme stands at around €500 million a year for 2012 2013, and more than 18 million European citizens currently benefit from the programme.
The Council will adopt its position in the first reading at the beginning of 2012 and the European Parliament will ratify the text after that. The regulation will apply retrospectively as from 1 January 2012.
The Franco-German declaration stated: “Given the discussion in the Council, France and Germany consider that the conditions are not met for a proposal of a new programme for a period post 2013 to be presented by the Commission and adopted by the Council. This is why both countries cannot agree with legal and financial proposals by the Commission of such a programme in the future.” (LC/trans.fl)