EN Official Journal of the European Union C 104/44

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the ‘Amended proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulations (EC) No 1290/2005 and (EC) No 1234/2007 as regards distribution of food products to the most deprived persons in the Union’

2011/C 104/10

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

— deplores the fact that the new programme for the distribution of food products to the most deprived persons could not be initiated earlier;

— believes that the uncertain economic situation and deterioration in employment in many Member States caused by the economic crisis, especially in the regions most badly affected by structural change, call for swift decisions by the EU institutions to bring the legal basis regulating food distribution and its resources up to a level that corresponds to current needs;

— feels that food aid to the most deprived should continue to be included under the umbrella of the Common Agricultural Policy and contribute to fulfilling the CAP's objectives with regard to guaranteeing people's food security;

— believes that it is important that the Community financial contribution to the funding of food aid should remain significant given that this a Community policy for evening out social and regional differences which is aimed directly at EU citizens;

— highlights the important role of local and regional authorities and third sector organisations in ensuring that people in need of aid are brought within the scope of aid, in organising the practical arrangements for the distribution of aid and in providing information about it.

Rapporteur : Mr Ossi Martikainen (FI/ADLE), Chairman of Lapinlahti municipal council Reference document : Amended proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulations (EC) No 1290/2005 and (EC) No 1234/2007 as regards distribution of food products to the most deprived persons in the Union COM(2010) 486 final

I. POLITICAL RECOMMENDATIONS

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

1. deplores the fact that the new programme for the distribution of food products to the most deprived persons could not be initiated earlier;

2. wishes to draw the EU institutions' attention to the conclusions drawn by the CoR in its previous opinions on the future of the CAP after 2013 (CdR 127/2010), social exclusion and poverty (CdR 57/2008), and health inequalities in the EU (CdR 47/2010);

3. believes that access to food and an adequate, varied diet are basic rights which must be guaranteed to all people regardless of their social situation;

4. notes that, for example, unemployment, social exclusion, a low income level or exclusion due to health problems may give rise to a situation where people do not have a sufficiently varied and healthy diet. This, together with Article 168 of the Lisbon Treaty (health protection in all EU activities), must be given serious consideration when planning future EU food aid and it must also be ensured that aid distributed under this programme is of high quality;

5. notes that more than 13 million people benefited from the food distribution programme in 2008 and believes that the programme will continue to be one of the key elements of basic protection for the most deprived in the future;

6. believes that the uncertain economic situation and deterioration in employment in many Member States caused by the economic crisis, especially in the regions most badly affected by structural change, call for swift decisions by the EU institutions to bring the legal basis regulating food distribution and its resources up to a level that corresponds to current needs;

7. takes the view that the measures, in the wake of the economic crisis, to balance public finances in Member States and in their local and regional economies are essential. However, in some cases these measures could to lead increased social uncertainty among the most deprived and hence also to an increased need for food aid. Therefore this tool for social cohesion should be developed further and efforts made to improve its effectiveness and make it better known and more acceptable;

8. feels that food aid to the most deprived should continue to be included under the umbrella of the Common Agricultural Policy and contribute to fulfilling the CAP's objectives with regard to guaranteeing people's food security;

9. takes the view that the distribution of food aid is growing in importance in several Member States as a result of the rise in consumer food prices caused by disturbances in agricultural markets, higher production costs and concentration in distribution channels. Trade and distribution now play a greater role in the formation of food prices, which is reflected alarmingly in both a fall in farmers' income and higher prices paid by consumers;

10. believes that a consistent and long-term approach should be applied in reviewing the Common Agricultural Policy so that policy changes do not lead to excessively rapid structural change, in particular to a situation where small farm holdings are driven to bankruptcy and farm holders move from being food producers to potential recipients of food aid;

11. thinks that food aid can also help to mitigate disturbances in markets for agricultural products and even out price fluctuations. Food aid must be seen as a component of a whole comprising the Common Agricultural Policy and market policy. It must not, however, simply be seen as an instrument associated with the intervention system. The need for aid for the most deprived is independent of the future of the intervention system. The CoR welcomes the plans set out in the amended Regulation to source food increasingly from the market, in addition to from intervention stocks, and to no longer limit market purchases to situations of temporary unavailability of intervention stocks;

12. believes that ensuring the diversity of food provided under the food aid programme is a challenge for the years ahead: the range of food provided should cover all the categories of basic foodstuffs produced in the EU;

13. also highlights the importance, for climatic and environmental reasons, of local food chains in the provision of food aid. The chain from production to distribution should be as short as possible and efficiently organised;

14. believes that taking local and regional food cultures into account in selecting the food products provided as food aid would also help to make receiving aid more meaningful and acceptable;

15. feels that closer cooperation in the future between local and regional administrations, regional producers and aid organisations in organising food aid could help to increase the effectiveness of this tool, make it more acceptable and better achieve the goal of proper allocation of aid;

16. welcomes the fact that the choice of food products to be distributed under the aid programme would continue to be the task of Member States and that the third sector would continue to play an import role in the distribution of aid;

17. urges that unnecessary red tape be avoided in the local organisation of aid and that administrative costs be kept to a minimum;

18. urges local and regional administrations to reconcile national social policy instruments falling within their remits with the EU food aid programme so that aid is allocated to those in need in a fair way and as a logical component of the overall livelihoods of the most deprived.

On the basis of the principles of proximity and subsidiarity the Committee of the Regions

19. believes that it is important that the Community financial contribution to the funding of food aid should remain significant given that this a Community policy for evening out social and regional differences which is aimed directly at EU citizens;

20. takes the view that there is a need to strengthen the powers delegated to the Commission in the area of food aid, for example with regard to the procedures for invitations to tender and, generally, with regard to allocation of resources, implementation, monitoring and control mechanisms, even though there will be a shift from funding activities exclusively from the EU budget to co-financing. The aim of simplifying competences must be transparency, effectiveness and improved efficiency;

21. accepts that the Community financial contribution to the cost of food aid can be higher in regions covered by the Cohesion Fund than in other regions, but the difference in funding sources between regions should not be allowed to become too large as this is a Community initiative aimed directly at citizens, the legitimacy and acceptability of which are assessed by citizens. Social differences may also be large in prosperous regions;

22. urges the Commission to continually assess whether the annual financial ceiling of EUR 500 million set for the programming period is sufficient given that the economic crisis may increase pressure to cut public expenditure and that economic uncertainty leads to higher unemployment in many countries;

23. urges the Commission and all the parties involved to monitor how the limits set in the amended Regulation for the EU's financial contribution to the programme affect the willingness to use aid and the potential consequences of this for the well-being of the most deprived;

24. believes that participation in the reception and distribution of EU food aid must continue to be based on the voluntary discretion of Member States and their willingness to participate in the programme;

25. highlights the important role of local and regional authorities and third sector organisations in ensuring that people in need of aid are brought within the scope of aid, in organising the practical arrangements for the distribution of aid and in providing information about it.