Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-02-14-Speech-2-262-000"
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"en.20120214.18.2-262-000"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, the food distribution programme to benefit the most deprived persons within the European Union already has a rich history. It was launched in 1987, when the Council decided to make available to the Member States agricultural products from intervention stores so they could be used to provide food aid for the poorest persons. When intervention food stocks decreased in subsequent years, the purchase of food products on the market for the same purpose was authorised.
The development of agricultural policy resulted in a reduction of intervention stores, and consequently in the need to purchase more food products on the market for this programme. A case against acquiring food by purchasing it on the market was taken to the Court of Justice. On 20 April 2011 the Court ruled that this was contrary to the legal basis and that the programme should be restricted only to food drawn from the intervention stores. This meant that as of 1 January 2012 the programme would have been reduced from EUR 500 million per year to a little over EUR 100 million. Subsequently the European Parliament took strong action and, in its resolution of 7 July 2011, called on the Commission and on the Council to devise solutions for the years 2012–2013 as a matter of urgency, to prevent such a dramatic reduction of this programme.
It should be recalled that the Council did not accept the Commission’s initial proposal of September 2008 or Parliament’s position of March 2009. The Commission’s subsequent approach, which entailed providing a legal base for the programme through social policy and not just through the common agricultural policy, also failed to obtain sufficient support in the Council. It was only the decisive action taken by the Polish Presidency that removed the blocking minority and allowed work to speed up. A trialogue took place on 6 December 2011 at which Parliament and the Commission accepted the Council’s position. At an extraordinary meeting in Strasbourg on 12 December 2011, the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development then accepted the outcome of the trialogue. The Council’s Special Committee on Agriculture gave its consent on the same day. This compromise received final confirmation from the Council at its meeting on 23 January 2012.Subsequently, on 26 February, Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development expressed its full support for the compromise adopted by the Council and accepted the request for the Council’s position to go through the adoption procedure before the plenary of the European Parliament.
It should be borne in mind that that position concerns implementation of the programme for the period 2012–2013. The sum of EUR 500 million will be maintained, and this is a very significant sum. The legal base for implementation of the programme will remain the common agricultural policy. The European Parliament’s request for the programme’s requirements to be met with European products in the first instance is honoured. Agreement for full Community funding was given. The institutions distributing the food were required to provide comprehensive information about the source of the support being European Union funds.
Today’s discussion is taking place after yesterday’s debate on the situation of the homeless, most of whom need this free food. After all, it is now winter. The crisis affecting our countries is felt most strongly by the poorest persons, who are the main beneficiaries of food aid in the framework of this programme. In total, almost 18 million Europeans benefit from it. They are the persons who find it hardest to survive, such as the homeless I referred to earlier, the unemployed, the elderly, the disabled and also large families and single parents. Europe has enlarged significantly, and the number of poor and needy individuals has increased significantly. It is estimated that approximately 40 million persons in Europe are currently living below the poverty line, and that a further 40 million are in danger of slipping below it. The programme has been warmly welcomed by charitable institutions and NGOs involved in food distribution, but what is most important is that poor and needy persons are being helped. It is good that the European Union remembers them. That is why we must do all we can to prepare a suitable legal base for the implementation of this programme in the period 2014–2020."@en1
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