Brussels, 02/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is expected shortly to publish a report on the programme for distributing fruit and vegetables and milk in schools.
At the meeting of the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on Monday 29 June, the Commission said it had asked the co-legislators (the European Parliament and the Council) to suspend discussion on the proposal on this matter to allow time for the text to be assessed. The assessment has now been carried out but the report has yet to be published. The Commission has, nonetheless, drawn four preliminary conclusions (the rest will be set out in the report): - the problem that this distribution programme was designed to address still exists and has even increased, with a general fall in consumption of fruit, vegetables and fresh milk; - EU intervention provides added value compared with national schemes in the same area; - stakeholders (EU institutions and all bar two member states) support the project; - stakeholders believe that the system can be simplified and improved.
On Wednesday 27 May, the European Parliament adopted its mandate for negotiation with the Council on the proposal on schemes to distribute fruit, vegetables and milk in schools (see EUROPE 11323). The Council suspended its discussions but asked the Commission to amend the proposal so that the legal basis for the text is Article 43 (3), giving the Council exclusive responsibility, rather than 43 (2), which would see responsibility shared between Parliament and Council. The Commission response is still awaited. (Lionel Changeur)