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 A roundtable hearing on the Commission's proposal for a €1 billion special financing facility to help resolve the worldwide food price crisis is scheduled to take place at 11:00-13:00 on Tuesday 14 October in the European Parliament.
On Tuesday 7 October, the Development Committee of the European Parliament adopted a report on the subject of using unused allocations in the EU's common agricultural policy (CAP) budget to help counter the food crisis in developing countries. MEPs recommended expanding the list of organisations through which the funds could be distributed to include NGOs and Member States' development agencies in addition to UN agencies (FAO, IFAD, UNICEF and WFP) and the World Bank. The hearing will be jointly hosted and chaired by Gay Mitchell MEP (Rapporteur on the food facility) and Thijs Berman MEP (Shadow Rapporteur). The key aim of the hearing is to provide due policy space to the voices of the farming communities who constitute the target group of the food facility and who have so far been excluded from the consultation process. Participants at the Roundtable will address the structural causes of hunger and the food price rise. South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE) Hivos and Eurostep have identified the ongoing debate as an entry point to influence the policies and decisions in favour of small farmers engaged in sustainable eco-agriculture in developing countries. They welcome the food facility proposition and have expressed a desire to see it implemented as soon as possible. They stress that the benefits of the facility must reach the entire farming community, particularly small farmers, in Africa, Asia and Latin America. To register contact EEPA. Sources: |
