Europe

Europe

France defends EU food aiding program

22 June 2011 00:56 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. French Agriculture Minister Bruno le Maire and the Minister for European Affairs Laurent Wauquiez on Tuesday jointly demanded the European Commission to strengthen the EU food aiding program, opposing an EU decision a day earlier that slashed the aid by over 77 percent.

The European Commission announced Monday to reduce the food distribution program for the poorest living in the 27-nation bloc to 113 million euros (162.7 million US dollars) in 2012, a considerable shrink from 500 million euros in previous years.

In a joint statement, Le Maire and Wauquiez asked the European Commission to examine "as soon as possible" all the solutions to strengthen the future-oriented aiding program and called all member states to consider the importance of it for charities and non-government organizations across Europe.

With regard to the issue, France would mobilize agriculture ministers from Italy, Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Spain, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia during the meeting of EU ministers Council on June 28 in Luxembourg, the statement added.

According to EU official figures, an estimated 43 million people in Europe are threatened by food poverty, meaning that they cannot afford a proper meal every second day.

Germany and Sweden are supporters of the cut, but France, one of the most dominant agricultural centres of Europe, said it is committed to a European food aiding program, which can help over 13 million deprived Europeans and shows the solidarity of the union.