EU:THE EUROPEAN Union is poised to give €1 billion in unused agricultural subsidies to farmers in the developing world to fight food shortages.
Agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel says the European Commission should agree the plan next week and she is confident it would overcome opposition from the majority of agriculture ministers of member states.
The draft proposal would set up a fund of €750 million this year and €250 million next year, taken from money which was set aside for buying unsold EU crops but which will not now be used because of surging food demand.
While the money would normally be returned to national governments, Ms Fischer Boel and Louis Michel, the development commissioner, say it is for the EU to play its part in helping those in danger of starvation because of food price rises.
Their proposal says that an additional €18 billion is needed this year and next to help the 59 worst-affected countries through the crisis.
The EU should provide 10 per cent of this, they say. The money could be given to international organisations, direct to farmers, companies or charities, to governments or to regional projects.
French agriculture minister Michel Barnier has proposed that poor countries should club together to jointly manage water resources and maintain emergency stockpiles, as the EU does through its Common Agricultural Policy (Cap).
Provided governments and the European Parliament agree the plan, the first money could be disbursed in early 2009.
Some campaign groups, however, argue that the EU could help more by reforming the Cap, which pays out €53 billion annually in subsidies, and allowing more imports from poor countries. - (Financial Times service)