Brussels, 30/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission adopted an implementing decision on Wednesday 30 March on financing the distribution of dairy products as part of the response to humanitarian crises from the general budget of the European Union.
Aid of €30 million will be provided to distribute milk to some 350,000 Syrian children, victims of the refugee crisis. This money is part of the €500 million solidarity package for European farmers presented by the Commission in September 2015.
The milk will be provided to approximately 350,000 school children inside Syria who are already part of an ongoing school snacks programme, complementing snacks already provided daily to the children and further enhancing their nutrition.
The Commission says that there is a severe shortage of milk products in Syria. Consumption of milk has been significantly reduced amongst poor households due to high food prices. The conflict has had a severe impact on the agriculture sector and led to a decline in food production, particularly dairy production. “At present, poor households rarely have access to milk and in some cases it has completely disappeared from their diet”, the Commission notes.
The products provided will be in the form of packs of Ultra High Temperature (UHT) milk as this is the most suitable form of milk for distribution, given the logistics and high temperatures involved. The milk provided will be of EU origin.
The €30 million financing will allow drinking milk for the Syrian children to be bought from European farmers. The Commission makes clear that the decision complies with the relevant World Trade Organisation (WTO) legislation and will not harm local production in Syria and its neighbouring countries as the quantities concerned are in effect marginal when considered in the context of local demand.
This being a humanitarian aid measure, the decision will be implemented through the financing of non-governmental organisations (Europe-based NGOs), international agencies and international organisations (UN agencies and International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement) and specialised agencies of the member states. Financing agreements signed by the Commission are based on partnership agreements with NGOs, international organisations and UN agencies. The Commission currently works with some 200 humanitarian aid partners, the majority of which are NGOs.
The €30 million aid will come from the EU budget. The funding for the scheme is provided for in the 2016 EU budget and is additional to other humanitarian funding for people affected by the Syria conflict. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)