EU/ With cuts to the food aid program, 18 million poor at risk in Europe

Luigi Campiglio, Professor of Economic Policy at the Catholic University of Milan, comments bitterly on the threatened cuts to the PEAD, the European program of food aid to the most deprived, founded in 1986 by the President of the European Commission Jacques Delors. Despite the fact that the current economic crisis has brought the estimation of the poor in Europe up to more than 18 million, a ruling by the European Court of Justice could eliminate the additional intervention introduced in 2008 by President José Manuel Barroso, which brought 500 million to the Pead fund. Acknowledging a motion by Germany and Sweden, the Court decided that the additional action was temporary in nature and therefore must be concluded, thus reducing the fund dramatically. One also risks the total elimination of aid because they are considered social in nature and, therefore, not part of the agriculture budget.

Campiglio says: "They do nothing but shoot themselves in the foot. They give the impression of not being able to understand what emergencies are currently happening in different areas of the world, including Europe in the food sector”.

What is the global situation of food products?
We are witnessing a genuine food catastrophe in Africa and there are also non-secondary problems both in America and in Europe. There are many different problems in the sector: Russia and Ukraine, traditional bread-baskets for Europe, did not have good harvests; there was a drought; and at the moment, there is an imbalance between supply and demand. In theory, there should be sufficient agricultural resources to feed all the mouths, but there is the complex problem of distribution.  Among other things, in a period with a complex economic and financial situation, like the present one, there has been speculation on raw materials and therefore also on grains. In short, the picture is not simple, as the FAO well knows. We need a global government, which does not exist. But at least we could have some collaboration between countries in large areas.

Does the food crisis affect only those that are listed among the most poor?