Brussels, 28/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 27 May, the European Parliament adopted its negotiation mandate (for talks with the Council) on the proposal regarding the programmes for the distribution of fruit, vegetables and milk in schools. Once the Council has adopted its position, negotiations will be able to start between the institutions of the EU.
In its adoption (458 votes to 97, with 28 abstentions) of the report by Marc Tarabella (S&D, Belgium) on the programmes for distributing milk, fruit and vegetables in schools, Parliament fleshed out the initial proposal of the European Commission (see EUROPE 11296 on the vote at the agriculture committee of the EP, which was confirmed in plenary).
Parliament supports the merger of the two programmes, which are currently run separately (one to promote the consumption of milk in schools and the other in favour of fruit and vegetables) and the inclusion of milk in the educational measures already provided for by the programme on fruit and vegetables.
“A healthy and balanced diet is the foundation of good health. Yet consumption of fruit, vegetables and milk has been declining across the EU, with many negative consequences for Europeans. The new rules aim to ensure that more is done in our schools, not only to give our children healthy foodstuffs, but to educate them better about healthy eating habits”, rapporteur Tarabella commented.
In its position, the EP aims to: - add to the list of food products which are eligible for European funding, to include, for instance, local dairy products with proven positive effects on children's health, such as yoghurt, cheese and curd (as long as they are not flavoured and do not contain added fruit, nuts or cocoa); - require the member states to earmark 10% to 20% of the European funding for educational activities designed, for instance, to encourage healthy eating habits and sustainable production, with visits to farms and occasional distribution of local specialities, such as processed fruit or vegetables (but these must not contain added sugar, fat, salt or sweeteners), honey, olives or dried fruit; - allocate an additional €20 million a year for milk measures (thereby bringing the annual financing in favour of milk and dairy products to €100 million, and the budget for fruit and vegetables to €150 million); - distribute EU funds more fairly among member states, by setting two core criteria for the entire scheme: the proportion of children aged between six and ten in the population and the degree of development of the region within each member state. For milk, past levels of milk-scheme funds will be taken into account, but only for the first six years, and would be balanced with a new, minimum annual amount of EU aid per child.
The programme to promote the consumption of milk in schools was created in 1977, whilst the programme for the consumption of fruit in schools was set up in 2007 and includes an educational dimension. All 28 member states participate in the programme for the consumption of milk in schools, whilst the fruit consumption programme is applied in 25 member states (all except the United Kingdom, Finland and Sweden). More than 20 million children are overweight and teenagers consume on average just 30% to 50% of the recommended daily amount of fruit and vegetables.
At a press conference, Tarabella said that the new European distribution programme will help to ease the administrative burden: “This will make it much easier for schools to sign up to receive the food. Currently, the programme is fully subsidised by Europe, both of fruit and vegetables and for milk”.
The programme covers 30 million children and nearly 200,000 schools in the EU. Additionally, the distribution programmes lay emphasis on short distribution chains, local and regional production. Just 36% of Europeans (and barely 12% of Belgians) eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. It is advised to consume 400 grams of fruit/vegetables, but just four European countries follow this rule (Germany, Austria, Poland and Italy), the rapporteur points out. He concluded by stressing that one in every three children in Europe is overweight or obese. (Lionel Changeur)