EU aid for the most deprived: more funds to be allocated to help the most vulnerable

In its proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework, the European Commission has proposed to allocate a budget of €2.5 billion for the EU Aid for the Most Deprived (FEAD) Fund, a successor instrument to the food support MDP programme aimed at fighting the worst forms of poverty and social exclusion in collaboration with the European Social Fund.

 

"I'm glad that such a majority voted in favour of the Report today. However, the details will depend on the trilogue discussions with the Council, which can be difficult as Member States are still divided on certain key issues. It is important to agree on a suitable financial envelope for the fund so that we'll be able to take care of our most deprived citizens in the future as well. The EPP Group believes that the proposed €2.5 billion budget is insufficient to fulfil the fund’s targets so we need to find additional financial resources", underlined Csaba Őry.

 

“I also hope that in the end we manage to reach a reasonable compromise with the Council as the creation of this fund is of the utmost importance”, concluded Őry.

 

Background information:

Within the framework of its Europe 2020 Strategy, the European Union has set itself the objective of reducing by at least 20 million the number of people in or at risk of poverty or social exclusion by 2020. Nowadays, 116 million people in the EU are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, and about 40 million are suffering from severe material deprivation.

 

Since 1987, the EU has operated the Aid for Most Deprived Persons (MDP) programme to enable Member States release public stocks of surplus food (intervention stocks) for distribution as food aid. However, due to the decrease of intervention stocks over recent years and the expected absence of such stocks in the future, the MDP has lost its original justification, and will stop functioning at the end of 2013. In the face of demand, termination of the MDP at the end of this year without a new replacement programme would pose a very serious threat to the operation of food aid programmes in many Member States. Large charities and civil society organisations representing food banks, and organisations working with children and homeless people have repeatedly called for continued EU support beyond 2013.