Brussels, 21/05/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is planning to set up a programme to distribute fruit and vegetables in schools to help combat the increasingly worrying problem of childhood obesity in EU countries, Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel announced in Mainz (Germany) on Sunday 20 May. The programme will be similar to the one which already exists in the milk and dairy products sector.
On the sidelines of the informal Agriculture Council, which took place in the capital of the Rhineland Palatinate on 20-22 May, Ms Fischer Boel told a group of journalists that the distribution of fruit and vegetables to pupils aged 5-13 would receive an annual subsidy of around €100 million from public funds. 50% of this aid would come from the EU budget and the rest from member states. Bananas, which are not part of the common market organisation (CMO) for fruit and vegetables, would, nonetheless, be included in this action.
Ms Fischer-Boel pointed out that the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends an intake of 400 grammes of fruit and vegetables daily. Currently, only Greece and Italy reach this target. The distribution programme in schools would allow the other countries to make up some ground. Ms Fischer Boel said that she was looking for a way to find the funding outside the fruit and vegetable CMO, which is currently under reform.
Partial decoupling of aid for processed products
The Commission and the German presidency of the EU Council of Ministers hope to bring member states to an agreement on the reform of the CMO for fresh and processed fruit and vegetables in Luxembourg on 11 June. Ms Fischer Boel confirmed that, to help find a compromise in June, she would be prepared to consider partial decoupling of aid for some processed products, but only for a “very short” transition period after which there would be total decoupling. “I don't like it, but I accept that there is a need” for this concession on partial decoupling, at the request of the majority of agriculture ministers (see EUROPE 9407). It is proposed that, for three to five years, aid will continue to be linked to production volume for tomatoes (Spain, Italy), citrus fruits (Spain, Cyprus), pears (Italy), red fruits (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia), dried grapes (Greece) and prunes (France). Ms Fischer Boel expects difficult negotiations to decide on the list of processed fruits and vegetables which can be exempted from the general total decoupling rules and the percentage of the remaining aid to the quantities produced. (lc)