Brussels, 15/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - Due to a lack of anything better, the European Parliament on Wednesday 15 February enshrined the compromise allowing the Community programme for the distribution of food to the most needy people living in the EU to continue in 2012 and 2013. However, many MEPs had questions about the future of the programme from 2014 onwards. Readers may recall that it has only been possible to continue the programme in 2012 and 2013 thanks to a Franco-German compromise stating that the CAP will no longer be able to fund the programme as of 2014.
In its adoption of the report by Poland's Czeslaw Siekerski (EPP), the EP has approved the position adopted by the Council at first reading on 23 January of this year. The Council agreed on the following compromise: - the current programme should only be kept in place in 2012 and 2013 and should be phased out after the annual plan has been made in 2013; - the regulation should apply from 1 January 2012 until the end of the annual plan to 2013 (retroactivity); - on an exceptional basis, it will not be brought into line with the Treaty of Lisbon (in other words, Articles 290 and 291 of the TFEU on delegated acts and implementing acts will not apply); - the additional legal base on social cohesion (article 175, paragraph 3 of the TFEU), which the Commission had added to the modified proposal, will be removed.
The new provisions of the programme extend the range of food concerned: purchases on the markets become a regular source of supply, to add to intervention stocks, on which the programme has mainly been based until now. The programme also gives preference to products originating from the EU. It will be fully funded by the EU. Costs admissible for funding will be the costs for transport and storage and administrative costs directly linked to implementing the programme. The annual budgetary line earmarked for the programme will be in the region of €500 million for 2012 and 2013. More than 18 million European citizens currently benefit from the programme.
Most of the MEPs pleaded passionately for the programme to remain in place after 2013. Some are saying that this issue has nothing to do with agricultural policy, said France's José Bové (Greens/EFA), but “feeding all the citizens is part of the fundamental charter of the first common policy of the Union”. Bové asked how €500 million could be found for ITER (nuclear fusion reactor project), but not to help the most needy.
Dacian Ciolos, the European agriculture commissioner, took pains to provide reassurances on the future of the system: “The European Commission has proposed to keep this budget within the framework of social policy. This budgetary proposal is now on the table of the Council and the Parliament, which will take a decision on the issue. On the basis of this decision regarding the future of the budget, of course, the European Commission is not divesting itself of its legislative initiative right or obligation, including in this area.” He undertook to “reflect” on the issues of food wastage and nutrition and to present ideas on these. He pointed out that after more than three years of intensive negotiations between the institutions, “we have finally managed to create a new legal framework for this programme for the years 2012 and 2013, which were no longer covered following a ruling of the Court of Justice”.
The rapporteur, Czeslaw Siekerski, pointed out that the Court of Justice of the EU had called into question the legal basis of the programme, not its merits. The programme must be implemented more effectively: we must cooperate and, possibly, follow the example of the member states which have seen the best results. Many MEPs, among them Italy's Giancarlo Scotta (EFD), stressed that the programme is also an instrument to fight food waste, and said that this aspect could be improved, particularly at collection level. Others, such as Janusz Wojciechowski (ECR, Poland), said that the programme had worked well in their countries. Ireland's Liam Aylward (ALDE) spoke out strongly against the criticism (overlap with national competences, budgetary issues) of a political nature against a programme which is doing its job. With her comment on the eating habits of some people (“one quarter of adults today do not even know how to cook”) Christa Klass (EPP, Germany), earned herself a scathing rebuke from French member Jacky Hénin (GUE/NGL), who asked her: “How can you feed yourself properly when you have no money to do the shopping”. She replied that people should be taught to make the best of what they have, even if it is only a potato … (LC/LG/transl.fl).