Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-09-28-Speech-3-327-000"
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"en.20110928.22.3-327-000"2
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"Mr President, thank you for including this item in today’s proceedings. This debate is about fundamental issues. It is about European solidarity and the current state of European solidarity; it is about the responsibility of Europe – which means our own responsibility – for those who are weak, poor and excluded, often through no fault of their own.
The Presidency is fully aware that the Commission’s proposals enjoy the clear support of many Members of this House. Such support is also being declared by many of the Member States. I can only assure the House that we will make every effort to break the current deadlock and work out an agreed position in Council as soon as possible. Five previous presidencies have not been able to make progress and break the blocking minority, but I continue to believe that it will be possible to do this under my leadership.
I would like to thank the House for supporting the programme, but would also like to ask you all for help in convincing the national governments and parliaments which oppose giving European Union food aid to the poorest people in the EU. I am very much counting on your help.
The programme is confirmation that the European Union feels responsible for its most deprived citizens and that it promotes ideals of solidarity. Millions of the European Union’s citizens know that when they go through hard times the Union does not forget them. They can count on the help of Brussels and Strasbourg. It is inconceivable to me that the programme will not be continued in the future. It is not only the European Union and the EU institutions which would lose face, because we would all bring shame on ourselves.
I am grateful to you all for the opportunity of telling you about the progress of work on this important dossier. I know that in March 2009 the European Parliament adopted the Siekierski report by a clear majority, and recently, in July 2011, it called for a solution to be found quickly so that the food programme can be continued in the remaining years of the funding period. Testimony to the importance of this programme for our citizens is seen in the fact that free EU food aid is being provided to 18 million people – and not just to people who are unemployed, homeless, migrants, elderly or socially underprivileged or to people who in different ways have fallen victim to circumstances, but also to families with many children and people who are bringing up children on their own. As you know, over 80 million people are at risk of poverty in the European Union, including 20 million children.
I know that thousands of local charities are involved in running the programme, and that there are hundreds – thousands – of volunteers who distribute the food to the poor. This is usually done by young people, and in this way they are learning to help others. For over 20 years, the programme has not only contributed to achievement of the objectives of the common agricultural policy, but has also contributed to the cultivation of civil society and to social development. We can also say that the programme is helping achieve the strategic objectives of Europe 2020. Millions of citizens and many charitable organisations are waiting to hear good news from Strasbourg and Brussels. There are undoubtedly many who are listening to this debate today.
The current programme enables the supply of food from intervention stocks to designated organisations, which distribute it among the most deprived people in the European Union. In recent years, the common agricultural policy has undergone a fundamental change. Intervention purchases as a tool for regulating the market have been completely withdrawn in the case of certain products or have been significantly reduced. As a consequence, the food aid programme’s dependence on purchases from the market has significantly increased in this time. Although work is still being carried out under the programme, the funding made available to it for next year has been significantly reduced. The fear exists that in 2013 this funding will be further reduced or even that nothing will be made available at all.
I would like, here, to emphasise very strongly that the Presidency aims to forge a compromise which will make it possible to continue the programme in full. In Council the majority of Member States support the programme, but there is a minority which is blocking it. The countries which are against the programme argue their position in different ways. Most of them say that the programme supports the objectives of social policy and that this is the responsibility of the Member States, so in their opinion the European Union should not support poor people from the EU budget. I am afraid I find it hard to agree with such an approach. I do not want to criticise those Member States, because that is not the role of the Presidency. The word ‘solidarity’ in this case means help for those who are most in need. Let us remember that participation in the programme is voluntary. As the Commission says, there are no budget-related or legal objections to maintaining the programme. We have a sum of EUR 500 million reserved for the programme in the EU budget every year. The costs of running the programme are barely EUR 1 per citizen per year. Commissioner Cioloş has explained repeatedly that the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 13 April 2011 is not an obstacle to making a political decision. Five months after the judgment, the Commission has put forward an amended proposal in order to amend the contested legislation. Adoption of this proposal in its current or in a slightly modified form will solve the problem of the legality of making purchases from the market. Therefore, everything is in the hands of the Council and Parliament. The opponents of the programme have no grounds for using legal or technical matters as excuses. We need to say frankly that responsibility for the future of the programme lies on their shoulders. They must not react to this matter by burying their heads in the sand.
By restricting or ending the programme we will not reduce poverty – poverty will hit at the Europe we live in with double force. We should not be embarrassed about poverty – we should work actively to reduce it. As you know, the Commission has proposed that in the new Multiannual Financial Framework the funding of food aid should be moved from Heading 2 to Heading 1. In the opinion of the Commission, the principles of the programme mean that under Heading 1, in fact, it fits in better with the Europe 2020 strategy. At the right moment the Commission will put forward a new legislative proposal for the period beginning from 2014. Let us hope that the programme will then enjoy the support of all the Member States. Of course, the programme will not solve the problem of poverty, but it can contribute to its reduction. Even in the wealthiest of the EU’s Member States there are people in need, people who are going through problems. It is not just people from urban areas who are affected by poverty, but chiefly people who live in small towns or sparsely-populated rural areas.
The continuing economic crisis and rising unemployment mean that the number of people who cannot meet their basic needs is growing – they should be given help, and they must be given help by the European Union. For precisely this reason we have included the programme in the agenda for the meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in September. The last debate in the forum of the Council was, at the request of the Polish Presidency, a public debate. Every citizen had the opportunity to follow it on the Internet. Unfortunately, for three years we have had an impasse in the Council over solutions to this problem. It is a pity that at a time of crisis, when the number of those in need of food is rising, social sensitivity and plain European solidarity is waning among some politicians.
The matter of the programme for food distribution to the most needy will probably be discussed in October at the Council of EU Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Ministers. Mr President, honourable Members, I would like to assure you that the Presidency is doing everything it can to find a solution as part of current bilateral contacts with the governments of the Member States which are opposed to the proposal, both among Ministers for Agriculture and among Heads of State or Government.
I know that some delegations are wondering whether a decision on this matter should not be made by the European Council on 17-18 October. In the next few days, I am going to send a letter about this to the President, Mr Van Rompuy."@en1
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