Update on the EU Food Facility: Chasing the €1 Billion

Oct 30th, 2008 2:14 PM UTC
By Nora Coghlan

Here’s the latest from ONE’s London-based Government Relations Manager, Eloise Todd, on the EU Food Facility. The facility is based on a proposal in the European Union to channel 1 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in unused European farm subsidies to farmers in developing countries.

Although the European Parliament voted last week on the EU’s budget for 2009, the decision on how to finance the €1 billion for developing country farmers has been deferred until 21 November, mainly because it’s become such a politically-sensitive topic.

This new date is basically the last chance for the money to be directed to farmers in poor countries. The move to defer the final decision could be a good signal that the Members of Parliament are committed to finding a lasting solution. We sense a real political will by several people within the Parliament to deliver the money, including Jutta Haug, who wrote the 2009 budget report (called a “rapporteur” in EU-speak) and Reimer Boege, who heads up the Budgets Committee .

In these last few crucial weeks, ONE will be working to keep the pressure on EU governments, especially now that some seem to be favoring a creative accounting exercise that could mean not all the money will be new. Instead, it could pull from current aid budgets, which could mean pulling money from existing development programs to finance the proposal.

Whatever is decided on EU financing, we’ll continue to watch each member states’ aid budget closely, as there is a danger that many governments will sign on to the proposal at the EU and then undo their commitments when mapping out their individual agriculture budgets later this year. We will also keep up our lobby work on the content of the proposal, especially how the money will be spent once it’s made available to developing countries. We want the money to go to those in most need and to be spent through the most effective systems. In these difficult financial times, we also need the Council to remember that the world’s poorest are suffering most, and that investing in sustainable development through agriculture is the most prudent investment donor nations can make.

-Eloise Todd

TAGS: Agriculture, EU Billion, ONE, Policy News