The European Union is poised to give €1bn ($1.57bn, £792m) in unused agricultural subsidies to farmers in the developing world to fight food shortages, its farm and development chiefs confirmed by Barosso at the G8 in Japan.
Mariann Fischer Boel, the farms commissioner, said in the Financial Times, that the Commission should agree the plan next week and was confident it would overcome opposition from the majority of farm ministers of member states. The draft proposal would set up a fund of €750m this year and €250m next year taken from money allocated to buy up unsold EU crops which are not needed 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 vital that the EU plays its part in helping those in danger of starvation because of food price rises. Their proposal says that an extra €18bn 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 said, and has committed only €800m through its aid programme.
According to the draft plan, the bulk of the €1bn would go on buying fertilisers and seeds or other measures to increase production. Up to 15 per cent could be spent on food aid. The money could be given to international organisations, direct to farmers, companies or charities, to governments or to regional projects.
Michel Barnier, the French agriculture minister, has proposed that poor countries club together to manage water resources and maintain emergency stockpiles jointly, as does the EU through its Common Agricultural Policy. Mr Michel backed the idea yesterday at a conference that Mr Barnier organised in Brussels.
Provided governments and the European parliament agree the plan, the first money could be disbursed in early 2009. Campaign groups said yesterday that the EU could help more by reforming its CAP, which doles out €53bn annually in subsidies, and allowing more poor- country imports.
