REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL in accordance with Article 184(5) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 on the implementation of the European School Fruit Scheme
Date: 2012-12-18
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: child, eating habits, educational institution, fruit, health education, public awareness campaign, vegetable

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 18.12.2012  
COM(2012) 768 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

in accordance with Article 184(5) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 on the 
implementation of the European School Fruit Scheme 

{SWD(2012) 435 final} 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE 
COUNCIL in accordance with Article 184(5) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 on 
the implementation of the European School Fruit Scheme........................................................ 3 

1. 

2. 

3. 

INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 3 

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCHEME AND ITS MAIN ELEMENTS ......................... 3 

EVALUATION OF SCHEME’S FUNCTIONING AND ITS IMPACT ON 
CHILDREN'S EATING HABITS ............................................................................... 4 

3.1. 

Establishment of the well-functioning Schemes in Member States............................. 5 

3.1.1.  Administrative implementation and its challenges ...................................................... 5 

3.1.2. 

Issues related to the financing of the Scheme in Member States................................. 7 

3.2. 

3.3. 

4. 

Evaluation of the Scheme’s impact on children’s eating habits .................................. 8 

Recommendations received ......................................................................................... 9 

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................... 10 

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

in accordance with Article 184(5) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 on the 
implementation of the European School Fruit Scheme 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

In  accordance  with  Article  184(5)  of  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  1234/20071  (hereinafter 
‘the  Single  Common  Market  Organisation  (CMO)  Regulation’),  this  report  concerns  the 
implementation of the European School Fruit Scheme (hereinafter ‘the Scheme’) over the first 
three years of its functioning in the period running from 1 August 2009 to 31 July 2012. 

The  Single  CMO  Regulation  requires  that  the  report  address  two  main  issues  in  particular, 
namely the extent to which the Scheme has promoted the establishment of well-functioning 
School Fruit Schemes in Member States and the impact of the Scheme on the improvement of 
children’s eating habits. 

The report is based primarily on an analysis of the information provided by Member States on 
the  application  of  school  fruit  schemes  in  their  countries,  and  more  specifically  on  the 
information from annual monitoring reports and evaluation reports, submitted in accordance 
with Article 12 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 288/20092, as well as on the findings of 
an  external  evaluation.  Those  sources  are  based  on  data  for  school  years  2009/2010  and 
2010/2011 only, since school year 2011/2012 has not yet been evaluated. 

2. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCHEME AND ITS MAIN ELEMENTS 

The  foundations  of  the  Scheme  were  laid  down  in  the  context  of  the  2007  reform  of  the 
Common Market Organisation for Fruit and Vegetables. The Council invited the Commission 
to  come  forward  with  a  proposal  for  a  school  fruit  scheme  to  tackle  the  issue  of  falling 
consumption  of  fruit  and  vegetables  among  children.  The  European  Parliament  also  fully 
endorsed  the  initiative.  Political  agreement  on  the  Commission  proposal  was  reached  in 
November  2008,  paving  the  way  for  € 90  million  of  European  funds  to  co-finance  the 
purchase and  distribution  of  fresh and processed fruit and vegetables and bananas to school 
children every year, as well as for a number of related measures. 

The Scheme's overall objective is to provide a policy and funding framework at the EU level 
for  Member  States  initiatives  aimed  at  reversing  the  declining  consumption  of  fruit  and 
vegetables particularly for children, who are the most vulnerable consumers. The aim is thus 
to increase, on a lasting basis, the share of these products in children's diets at an early stage 

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Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  1234/2007  of  22  October  2007  establishing  a  common  organisation  of 
agricultural markets and on specific provisions for certain agricultural products, OJ L 299, 16.11.2007, 
p. 1.  
Commission  Regulation  (EC)  No  288/2009  of  7  April  2009  laying  down  detailed  rules  for  applying 
Council Regulation (EC) no 1234/2007 as regards Community aid for supplying fruit and vegetables, 
processed  fruit  and  vegetables  and  banana  products  to  children  in  educational  establishments,  in  the 
framework of a School Fruit Scheme, OJ L 94, 8.4.2009, p. 38.  

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when their eating habits are being formed. Furthermore, the positive impact on consumption 
would  meet  CAP  objectives  including  the  promotion  of  earnings  in  agriculture,  the 
stabilisation of markets and the availability of current and future supplies. Similarly, a more 
educational  dimension  was  envisaged  through  mandatory  accompanying  measures  which 
serve as a tool to establish links with agriculture, nutrition, health, environment and physical 
activity,  working  together  to  enhance  the  overall  impact  of  the  Scheme.  In  addition,  the 
Scheme  contributes  to  the  EU  objective  of  combating  rising  levels  of  obesity  and  chronic 
diseases  linked  to  an  unhealthy  diet,  as  set  out  in  the  2007  White  paper  on  ‘Nutrition, 
Overweight and Obesity related health issues’3. 

Member States wishing to participate in the Scheme have to draw up strategies at a national or 
regional level in conjunction with public health and education authorities prior to the period 
of  implementation.  The  EU  funds  co-finance  national  programmes  up  to  a  level  of  50%, 
which is increased to 75% for convergence and outermost regions of the EU, with the balance 
provided from national and/or private contributions. 

The key elements of the Scheme are as follows: 

(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

3. 

distribution  of  products  in  educational  establishments,  ranging  from  nurseries  to 
secondary schools. 

accompanying  measures  to  raise  awareness  about  the  importance  of  fruit  and 
vegetable  consumption  as  well  as  healthy  eating  habits,  and  to  strengthen  the  link 
with agriculture through for example farms visits or gardening sessions.  

networking,  monitoring  and  evaluation  of  the  implementation  of  Schemes  in 
individual Member States. 

EVALUATION OF THE SCHEME’S FUNCTIONING AND ITS IMPACT ON 
CHILDREN’S EATING HABITS 

In  addition  to  the  abovementioned  Member  State  and  external  evaluations,  the  European 
Court  of  Auditors  (hereinafter  the  ECA)  published  its  Special  report  No  10  in  20114 
containing  the  results  of  the  joint  audit  of  the  Scheme  in  conjunction  with  the  School  Milk 
Scheme  (SMS),  in  which  it  considered  the  effectiveness  of  the  two  schemes.  ECA  in 
particular assessed whether participation is sufficiently encouraged, whether the EU subsidies 
have a direct impact on the beneficiaries’ consumption and if the schemes are likely to meet 
their educational objectives and influence future eating habits. Furthermore, in 2011 a study 
was  conducted  by  CEPS5  under  a  special  contract  with  the  Commission,  which  focused  on 
estimating  and  evaluating  the  administrative  burdens  generated  by  the  School  Milk  and 
School Fruit Schemes. 

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White  Paper  on  a  Strategy  for  Europe  on  Nutrition,  Overweight  and  Obesity  related  health  issues’, 
COM(2007) 279 final, 30.5.2007.  
Court  of  Auditor’s  Special  report  No  10  of  2011  ‘Are  the  School  Milk  and  School  Fruit  Schemes 
effective?’.  
Centre  for  European  Political  Studies  (CEPS)  Special  report  ‘Measurement  of  administrative  burdens 
generated by European legislation, Administrative burden quantifications of School Fruit Scheme and 
School Milk Scheme’, 7 December 2011.  

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3.1. 

Establishing well-functioning Schemes in Member States 

Given  the  large  number  of  parameters  which  could  be  used  to  assess  the  extent  to  which  a 
well-functioning  Scheme  has  been  established  in  the  Member  States,  this  report  focuses  on 
evaluating the Scheme’s administrative implementation in Member States and the challenges 
in terms of (a) its efficiency, (b) difficulties encountered, (c) administrative costs and burdens, 
(d) accompanying measures, and finally financing issues. 

3.1.1.  Administrative implementation and its challenges 

There are various approaches and conceptual designs for implementing of a well-run school 
fruit scheme. Even within a single Member State or region, the way the Scheme is run may 
differ  because  of  the  decisions  taken  at  school  level.  The  national  evaluations  assessed  the 
implementation  of  the  Scheme  and  the  satisfaction  of  schools  and  staff  involved  in  its 
practical  implementation.  This  so-called  process  evaluation  has  established  that  the  Scheme 
has been successfully embedded in Member States and that it has been very well received by 
children,  teachers  and  parents  alike.  In  the  2010/2011  school  year,  many  of  the  problems 
experienced in the first year of application were to a large extent overcome and the Scheme is 
running smoothly in the vast majority of Member States. There are, however, still a number of 
Member States and/or regions finding it difficult to implement (see subparagraph (b). 

Evaluations  further  conclude  that  the  requirement  to  establish  a  partnership  between 
education,  health  and  agriculture  has  been  met  successfully,  especially  in  the  phase  of 
adapting the European Scheme to the national/regional framework and when developing the 
scheme's  conceptual  design  or  strategy.  This  partnership  was  somewhat  less  structured  at 
school level, which can be attributed to lack of contact between the various stakeholders. 

(a) 

Efficiency of the Scheme 

The external evaluation established that there is no easy way of calculating which schemes are 
the most efficient. As the performance of the Scheme is characterised by several results which 
could  all  be  used  as  impact  indicators,  the efficiency  has  to  be  measured  in  more  than  one 
way.  For  example,  it  is  difficult  to  say  whether  reaching  more  children  with  a  lower 
consumption  increase  would  be  better  than  reaching  fewer  children  with  a  higher 
consumption  increase.  However,  the  evaluation  assessed  the  efficiency  in  an  approximate 
way. 

The  findings  show  that  the  ratio  between  the  quantity  of  fruit  and  vegetable  products 
distributed and the budgets spent varies significantly between Member States (from € 0.90 to 
€ 7  per  kilo).  This  price,  however,  can  be  attributed  partly  to  distribution  costs,  which  vary 
considerably  for  a  number  of  reasons  such  as  geographical  features  (remote  areas,  islands), 
population density and the choice of products offered. A low price per kilogram of products 
does not in itself guarantee efficient distribution. 

Looking  at  the  frequency  of  distribution  in  relation  to  the  budget  spent,  it  appears  that  the 
most efficient schemes are those where a small amount of money is spent on products for a 
relatively high frequency of distribution, such as in Estonia (€0.91 per kilo of fruit with 2.6 
distributions per week). The higher distribution efficiency in terms of the products distributed 
can be partly explained by a lower price being spent per kilo of products. 

When calculating the ratio between the numbers of children in the target group reached and 
the  budget  spent  per  child,  it  is  clear  that  8  Member  States  or  regions  have  a  high  share  of 

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participating children. They reach more than 60 % of their target group because their spending 
per  child  is  significantly  lower.  Member  States  or  regions  which  spend  with  a  very  high 
expenditure  per  child  generally  reach  only  a  small  percentage  of  children.  There  are  some 
exceptions,  such  as  Hungary,  which  on  the  other  hand  distributes  only  one  type  of  fruit 
(apples). 

Moreover, the evaluation observed that the level of EU co-financing influences the extent to 
which the target group is covered. A higher percentage of EU aid enables Member States to 
reach more children within a target group. 

(b) 

Challenges and difficulties related to implementation 

Understandably,  the  greatest  implementation  difficulties  were  encountered  in  the  first  year 
following the Scheme’s launch in 2009. These start-up problems mainly concerned the high 
administrative burden, logistical/organisational challenges and securing the required national 
funding. 

The  administrative  burden  and  problems  related  to  national  or  private  co-financing  are 
explained in greater detail in subchapter (c) and in Chapter 3.1.2. respectively. 

Logistical  problems  mostly  concerned  schools'  capacities  to  handle  the  preparation  and 
distribution  of  products.  There  were  also  problems  with  finding  suppliers,  particularly  in 
remote areas. Member States have managed to overcome start-up problems in different ways. 
For  example,  in  order  to  alleviate  logistical  difficulties,  the  Netherlands  has  reduced  the 
number of suppliers. Consequently, the volume of the contract has become more attractive for 
product  delivery,  and  administrative  efforts  and  control  costs  have  been  reduced.  Poland 
introduced  a  flat  rate  per  portion,  which  has  had  a  positive  effect  on  simplifying  and 
streamlining the process of granting aid. 

(c) 

Administrative costs and burdens 

In general, in terms of documentation, reporting and control obligations the evaluation reports 
consider the administrative work related to the Scheme to be manageable and on average level 
compared  to  other  policy  measures  under  the  CAP.  Thus,  these  requirements  do  not  in 
themselves constitute an obstacle preventing Member States or schools from participating. 

The  external  evaluation  establishes  that  the  administrative  burden  in  regionally  organised 
schemes, such as Catalonia or Saxony-Anhalt, appears to be higher in relation to the number 
of participating schools and children than it is in centrally organised schemes. This is in line 
with  the  CEPS  report,  which  indicates  that  such  burdens  are  like  fixed  costs  and  do  not 
increase when the scale of the scheme increases. 

On the other hand, the evaluations identified considerable burdens in relation to implementing 
and  executing  the  Scheme  at  school  level.  Such  burdens  arise  from  the  organisational 
challenges linked to Member States' decisions on how the Scheme should be implemented. In 
certain  cases  schools  are  even  entrusted  with  securing  and  managing  the  contracts  with 
suppliers.  In  most  participating  Member  States  and  regions  schools  are  faced  with  tasks 
related  to  the  logistics  and  delivery  of  products,  as  well  as  managing  their  preparation  and 
distribution  to  children.  This  is  time-consuming  and  requires  additional  manpower.  Some 
Member  State  evaluations  warn  of  excessive  burdens  on  schools,  which  might  discourage 
them from participating in the Scheme. 

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In  certain  cases  the  administrative  burden  arose  from  very  stringent  national  requirements 
imposed by Member States in the first year, which were subsequently changed in the light of 
the experience gained. For example, Poland loosened its requirements for the packaging and 
preparation  of  products  because  the  suppliers  were  not  able  to  meet  them.  Moreover,  the 
Commission simplified Commission Regulation (EC) No 288/2009. 

(d) 

Accompanying measures 

Accompanying  measures  carried  out  under  the  EU  Scheme  vary  from  one  Member  State  to 
another. In general, the public authorities responsible for education, health and agriculture set 
the  conceptual  design  of  the  measures.  The  most  common  approach  is  to  offer  schools  a 
variety  of  teaching  material  and  suggestions  for  accompanying  measures  and  to  let  them 
decide how to implement them. On the other hand, some national or regional schemes do not 
provide  schools  with  any  support  for  carrying  out  these  measures.  In  a  few  Member  States 
and  regions  accompanying  measures  are  simply  carried  out  within  the  regular  school 
curriculum. The wide discrepancies in the approaches and, consequently, the strength of these 
measures can also be partly attributed to the fact that they are not co-financed from the EU 
funds and thus there are no additional minimum requirements as regards their implementation. 

From the analysis two types of programmes emerge: those where the measures are the central 
element  of  the  intervention,  for  example  in  Ireland,  and  those  which  integrate  them  as  an 
‘additional extra’, as in the Netherlands. Thus, spending on accompanying measures differs, 
with  the  Netherlands  and  France  spending  less  than  € 1  per  child  in  the  first  year,  while 
Ireland spends more than € 25 per child, its system being based on rewards (small prizes). 

As  regards  the  impact  of  accompanying  measures,  the  research  conducted  in  Ireland 
demonstrates  that  their  Food  Dudes  programme,  which  is  based  on  strong  accompanying 
measures, is essential for a sustainable increase in children’s fruit and vegetable consumption. 
For other Member States, which adopt different approaches, the overall short-term impact of 
the accompanying measures is difficult to evaluate at this juncture. 

3.1.2. 

Issues related to the financing of the Scheme in Member States 

As explained in previous chapters, the Scheme is based on the principle of co-financing. The 
share  of  the  funds  which  have  to  be  provided  by  Member  States  can  come  from  public  or 
private  sources.  It  is  clear  from  national  and  external  evaluations  that  it  is  increasingly 
difficult  to  make  co-financing  available,  in  particular  if  it  is  to  be  secured  exclusively  by 
schools, municipalities or parents. Thus, co-financing has been portrayed several times as one 
of  the  biggest  challenges  in  the  implementation  of  the  Scheme  and  a  reason  why  certain 
regions within Member States have decided not to participate in the Scheme. 

(a) 

Sources of national co-financing 

In  most  participating  Member  States  and  their  regions,  national  co-financing  is  based 
exclusively on public funds. Only Slovakia, Denmark, Austria and Flanders (Belgium) ask for 
a parental contribution and 3 Member States / regions incorporate private funding within their 
co-financing concept (Baden-Württemberg, the Netherlands and Flanders). 

Private contribution to financing can be a positive opportunity to extend the Scheme’s scale, if 
long-term participation and private interests can be handled properly. The identification and 
contracting  of  private  sponsors  seem  to  be  more  efficient  under  the  responsibility  of  the 
national / regional control authority than at school level. The evaluation also establishes that 
the  Scheme  does  not  expand  in  regions  where  the  public  contribution  is  very  limited  and 

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private funding needs to be organised by participating schools. This is the case in France and 
Germany. Baden-Württemberg, with a public contribution of only 4 %, has specific problems 
with  regard  to  expanding  its  programme,  whereas  this  is  not  the  case  for  the  neighbouring 
regions of Bavaria and Rhineland-Palatinate, which receive a public contribution of 50 %. In 
France,  where  there  is  no  national  co-financing,  the  budget  is  provided  either  by 
municipalities or by the schools themselves from their canteen budget. 

(b) 

Parental contribution 

The introduction of a parental contribution to the financing is viewed differently, although it 
may  ensure  some  involvement  of  parents  in  the  scheme  and  provide  additional  budget. 
Basically,  it  is  assumed  that  an  obligatory  financial  contribution  by  parents  has  a  negative 
influence  on  the  participation  rate,  especially  if  schools  have  many  children  from  a  less 
privileged  social  background.  Furthermore,  the  message  from  school  headmasters  is  that 
collecting money at school level requires a great deal of organisation. These assumptions are 
confirmed,  for  example,  by  Latvia's  experiences.  There  it  has  been  observed  that  the 
implementation of the School Milk Scheme stopped when public funding was reduced. 

(c) 

Impact of EU co-financing 

The evaluation thus concludes that EU aid — both the financing percentage and the absolute 
size  of  EU  funds  available  —  has  a  positive  or  even  essential  impact  on  the  Scheme's 
effectiveness. EU funds are essential for the success of nation- (or region-) wide schemes in 
nearly all participating Member States, regardless of the underlying co-financing concept. In 
addition,  in  the  eyes  of  the  public,  EU  involvement  lends  extra  credibility  and  weight  to 
national and regional schemes. 

3.2. 

Evaluation of the Scheme’s impact on children’s eating habits 

Bearing  in  mind  that  the  national  evaluations  assessed  only  two  years  of  the  Scheme’s 
implementation and that different evaluation methods were employed, the results in relation to 
its effectiveness cannot be conclusive, particularly when it comes to the long-term impact. 

(a) 

Impact on children’s eating habits 

Taking  these  limitations  into  account,  the  results  of  most  of  the  national  and  regional 
evaluations  indicate  that  the  Scheme  has  led  to  an  increase  in  the  amount  of  fruit  and 
vegetables consumed by children. By way of an example, Poland recorded a 21 % increase in 
consumption. Similar positive results were established on the basis of interviews carried out 
as part of an external evaluation. Only four evaluations were unable to identify an impact on 
consumption, either because there are not yet sufficient grounds to judge the Scheme’s impact 
on consumption after only one year of implementation, as in the Netherlands, or because no 
significant statistical differences in consumption patterns were established. 

In some cases, encouraging children to eat more fruit and vegetables also has a positive spill-
over  effect  outside  the  official  distribution  times  in  schools,  for  example  on  after-school 
consumption  in  Romania  or  on  days  where  fruit  distribution  was  not  planned,  as  in  the 
Netherlands.  However,  the  conclusions  were  different  with  regard  to  the  impact  of  the 
Scheme on the lifestyle of children in general, such as the consumption of popular snacks or 
sweets. In certain cases it was established that there was no visible impact, while occasionally 
a  positive  change  was  identified.  Interestingly,  many  evaluations  conclude  that  the  Scheme 
does not affect the consumption of all participating children in the same way. The differences 

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were  observed  in  relation  to  gender,  with  girls  consuming  more  fruit  and  vegetables  than 
boys, as well as in types of products, where fruit is preferred to vegetables. Some evaluations 
have  furthermore  observed  the  Scheme's  positive  impacts,  particularly  in  relation  to  socio-
economically disadvantaged groups, which have warmly welcomed the Scheme. 

(b) 

Impact on parents 

In most evaluations the effects of the Scheme on parents and their consumption were omitted, 
or tackled indirectly by examining only their attitude towards the Scheme in general and their 
children’s  diets.  Although  many  evaluations  did  conclude  that  parents  responded  very 
positively to the Scheme and its objectives, in the case of France and Poland the Scheme did 
not have a visible impact on parents’ consumption. Other evaluations indicate that the impact 
of  the  Scheme  was  positive  as  regards  parents’  attitudes  towards  their  children’s  diets.  For 
example, parents provided more fruit and vegetable products in lunch boxes in Ireland, Poland 
and Malta. There was also greater variation and availability of those products at home (Italy) 
and, to a lesser degree, there was a positive impact even on parents' own consumption. 

3.3. 

Recommendations received 

The evaluations identify major improvements in the functioning of the Scheme compared to 
its  challenging  start.  Nevertheless,  several  recommendations  were  put  forward  to  strengthen 
the Scheme. 

Firstly,  to  off-set  the  financial  constraints experienced  by  many  Member  States  and  regions 
and to strengthen the Scheme’s impact by extending its scope, 

• 

It  is  recommended  the  EU  co-financing  rate  be  increased,  as  the  current  50%  and 
75% are seen as obstacles to higher uptake. Overall EU aid should also be increased 
beyond € 90 million. 

Secondly, with respect to the implementation of the Scheme and the distribution parameters, 
the following recommendations are made: 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Sustained  distribution  (≥  35  school  weeks)  should  be  aimed  at, as  only  sufficiently 
long  participation  can  generate  a  sustainable  impact  with  respect  to  improving 
children's eating habits as envisaged by the Scheme. 

Diversity of offer is seen as an important success factor for the effectiveness of the 
Scheme.  It  is  recommended  to  offer  at  least  5  to  10  different  products  to  keep 
children interested. However, this recommendation could be difficult to follow where 
Member  States  decide  to  give  preference  to  local  or  seasonal  fruit  and  vegetable 
products.  

Products  should  continue  to  be  distributed  free  of  charge.  This  is  seen  by  many 
national evaluations (Germany and the Netherlands for example) and also the ECA 
report as determining the success of the Scheme, having an impact on participation 
and effectiveness. 

Furthermore,  a  high  frequency  of  offering  products  is  recommended,  ideally  three 
times  a  week.  This  recommendation,  similarly  as  the  previous  three,  is  inherently 
linked to the question of financing the Scheme and the available budget.  

As regards the target group of the Scheme: 

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• 

• 

• 

Several  Member  States  see  the  need  to  extend  the  Scheme's  target  group  to  allow 
more children to benefit from it. This is inherently linked to the funding available. 

It  has  also  been  established  that  there  is  a  need  for  a  targeted  approach  to  more 
‘vulnerable’  groups,  such  as  socio-economically  disadvantaged  groups  which  show 
high  interest  in  the  Scheme.  However,  while  it  is  recommended  that  the  Scheme 
should target this group, it should not be restricted to it so as to avoid stigmatising 
the  schools  they  attend  and  in  view  of  the  difficulties  in  establishing  criteria  for 
identifying these groups and schools precisely. 

Several  evaluations  also  see  a  need  to  find  better  ways  to  target  boys  who  tend  to 
consume less fruit and vegetables than girls. 

As regards the administrative and organisational burden, 

• 

It is recommended that in order to reduce the administrative burden, ways should be 
explored  of  harmonising  the  reporting  obligations  and  administrative  procedures  of 
the School Fruit and School Milk Schemes. In addition, solutions should be found in 
national strategies to help schools cope with organisational and logistical tasks. 

Finally,  given  the  importance  of  accompanying  measures  and  in  order  to  overcome  the 
shortcomings identified in their implementation, it is recommended that: 

• 

• 

Member State should be encouraged to pay more attention to the approach they use 
since the impact of those measures hinges on the methodological approach. 

It  is  recommended  that  these  measures  should  be  made  eligible  for  EU  aid  by 
providing  a  minimum  level  of  funding  with  a  view  to  strengthening  their  role  and 
ensuring consistent implementation.  

As concerns the Scheme in general, many national evaluations recommend that: 

• 

There is a strong need to increase the Scheme's visibility and provide more and better 
targeted  information,  as  well  as  to  involve  different  actors  and  stakeholders  more 
systematically.  

4. 

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 

After  only  three  years  of  the  European  School  Fruit  Scheme,  it  is  still  too  early  to  draw 
definitive conclusions, particularly with respect to its sustainable impact on children’s eating 
habits. It may nevertheless be established that, judging by the initial evaluation results and the 
Commission  figures  from  the  monitoring  exercise,  the  Scheme  has  been  successfully 
embedded  in  the  Member  States  and  that  its  efficiency  is  increasing  in  terms  of  the  budget 
used and the benefits for children (over 8 million) compared to the start-up phase. 

As  regards  the  Scheme’s  effectiveness,  national  evaluations  indicate  that  the  Scheme  has 
strong potential and is an appropriate tool to exercise a positive influence on the eating habits 
of children and parents alike, encouraging them towards consuming more fruit and vegetables 
in the future, provided that the Scheme’s long-term continuation is ensured. 

Several  recommendations  and  proposals  for  improvements  were  put  forward  in  the 
evaluations  carried  out  by  the  Member  States  and  the  external  contractor,  as  well  as  by  the 

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ECA  special  report.  Some  of  the  most  important  recommendations  have  already  been 
addressed with the proposed changes to the  Scheme in the context of the CAP 2020 reform 
proposals. Thus, in order to enable even more children than the current 8.1 million to benefit 
from the Scheme, the Commission has proposed further strengthening it by raising the overall 
EU budget available for the Scheme to € 150 million. It is also proposed to increase the rates 
of EU co-financing which is considered to be one of the main parameters for the success of 
the Scheme. The external evaluation considers current co-financing rates to be one of the key 
obstacles to a higher uptake of funds. 

In  addition,  given  the  importance  attached  to  accompanying  measures,  the  Commission 
proposed to make those measures eligible for co-financing from the EU budget under certain 
conditions and within a threshold to be established at a later stage. This will strengthen their 
impact and coherence to the overall benefit of the Scheme. 

Given this positive  feedback concerning  the  Scheme’s effectiveness and efficiency after the 
first  three  years  of  implementation,  it  is  important  at  this  stage  to  start  thinking  about  the 
future.  Moreover,  the  ECA  report  called  for  greater  coordination  and  synergy  between  the 
School Fruit and School Milk Schemes to make sure that they present a harmonised approach 
to nutrition and that they are managed efficiently. 

The  Commission  has  therefore  launched  an  impact  assessment  process  which  will  build  on 
the  findings  of  the  evaluations,  the  improvements  already  made,  and  take  into  account  the 
ECA  report.  It  will  assess  the  impact  of  the  existing  schemes  and  analyse  if  and  how  they 
should evolve in the future by considering different options, including a possibility of a new 
wider  scheme. Furthermore,  it  will  examine  the  role  and  design  of  accompanying  measures 
which  are  an  important  tool  for  informing  and  educating  children  about  the  importance  of 
agricultural  products,  agriculture  and  farming,  as  well  as  about  healthy  eating  habits  and 
lifestyle. 

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