The Social Affairs Committee agrees a new fund to provide food aid to the poorest but there's disagreement over distribution.

Food aid for the few?

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/16308172/n001-130521-003-en.srt

Some 40 million EU citizens can’t afford  one nutritious meal every other day.

An EU fund that helped to  feed the poorest people ends this year.

Its replacement, a proposed  2.5 billion euros over seven years,

In relation to the budget, yes, I would agree.  I believe the budget should be higher.

I think it should be maintained  at the current level,

which is about 500 million euros  per year over 7 years.

Organisations like Belgium’s  Restos du Cœur help bridge the gap,

They know that the new fund, effectively  40% less, won’t go far enough.

What the EU is proposing, saying they want  to do something for the homeless,

is a bit like saying, ‘we’ll keep them alive’.

I find it disgraceful of Europe  to just say, ‘we'll keep them alive’.

Some EU countries,  like Germany, the Netherlands,

Sweden and the UK,  don’t want to participate,

so at the Employment and  Social Affairs Committee

there were proposals  to channel funds to those that do.

Let the allocation go to countries  like Spain, Italy, Greece

and a couple of  Eastern European countries

that use the food money from the current  programme, that are dependent on it.

Nobody is forcing any  Member State to participate.

It’s up to them  whether or not they participate,

but the issue is what happens  with the money.

Overwhelming support  for the package wasn’t enough

to start immediate negotiations  with EU governments.

But while the proposal must now  go to a full plenary session,

the work of feeding the neediest must  continue – and their numbers are growing.

We must now find not only a way  to maintain the aid as it is currently

but also long-term methods that will  allow poverty to be truly eradicated.

certainly not to address the EU’s stated aim  of eradicating poverty by 2020.

But it’s better than nothing  and Europe’s poor can’t afford to wait.