Brussels, 26/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 25 March, the European Parliament agriculture committee gave its support to maintaining the budget allocated to the future (social) programme for distributing agricultural products to the poorest people in the EU. It adopted a recommendation (27 votes to 3, with 4 abstentions) by Marc Tarabella (S&D, Belgium) for the EP's employment and social affairs committee, which is the responsible committee.
The European Commission is proposing a European aid fund for the most deprived (FEAD) to replace the European Food Aid Programme (PEAD) that some member states are questioning arguing that this area of action is a social issue and falls, therefore, within the responsibility of the member states themselves. This new fund should operate according to structural fund rules. It will help to finance the purchase of food products and basic consumer goods for personal use, as well as accompanying measures to help promote social inclusion. The fund is linked to the EU's economic cohesion, social and regional policies and its funding will come exclusively from the European social fund (ESF). For 2014-2020, the Commission proposes a budget of €2.5 billion. Compared to what is currently being undertaken under the PEAD project, this constitutes a cut in aid of €1 billion. The heads of state and government have even brought these resources down to €2.1 billion. The current PEAD was allocated €3.5 billion for 2007-2013. The rapporteur says that “at the moment, with the situation getting worse, it is particularly shocking that the budget granted to the poorest people is falling. Many citizens do not understand this very well, which strengthens an anti-Europe feeling among the population”.
In its recommendation, the EP agriculture committee says that it wants aid to remain at €500 million a year. The Council wants it brought down to €300 million, a cut of 40%. The funds must prioritise food aid and complement action already taken by member states, according to the recommendation. The rate of financing (Community) for the programme could increase from 85% to100% from public spending allowed in countries experiencing temporary financial difficulties, according to the amendments.
The Commission proposal seeks to extend the fund for buying clothes and promoting social inclusion activities, “objectives which are certainly praiseworthy but which cannot be done without specific additional funds”, argue those close to Tarabella.
The recommendation is also calling for stocks of intervention products to continue to be used and distributed amongst the EU's poorest citizens. However, the agriculture committee does not want the value of the stocks to be deducted from the resources allocated to these funds.
The agriculture committee also extended the list of potential beneficiaries to those below the relative poverty threshold, namely, people living in a household whose income is less than 60% of the national median.
Food waste. Tarabella is also calling for measures to effectively fight against food waste. Every year Europe throws away 90 million tonnes of food, 179kilogrammes per person. By cutting waste by 30%, “we could feed the whole world”, he reasoned.
By adopting the Tarabella report, the EP's agriculture committee is calling on the Commission to ensure that rules on VAT support food donations. Currently, it is more profitable for a supermarket to throw food away than to distribute it because there is not any VAT on destroyed products, whereas there is a tax on food products given to charities (a nonsense that needs to be put right). The Commission is being called on to clarify the definitions of “best before” and “use by” dates, in an effort to prevent waste. The Tarabella report is also advocating that the European Commission takes significant action in several areas such as promoting “short-circuit” social food collection organisations and platforms.
The agriculture committee also voted in favour of more flexible and transparent financing rules. According to the committee, ESF rules are not adapted to this specific aid. Social fund rules are subject to excessive administrative red tape, according to members of the EP's agriculture committee.
The employment and social affairs committee will vote on this programme at the end of April. Negotiations between the EP and the Council will then begin. (LC/transl.fl)