EU institutions urged to resolve 'row' over helping world's hungry

EU institutions have been urged to ‘stop squabbling’ over who should foot the bill for tackling world hunger

The EU is considering using €1 billion in savings from its 2008 budget to enable African countries provide inputs to their farmers for the next production cycle.

But, currently, there is uncertainty over which budget line the money should come from.

Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, UK Tory MEP Neil Parish called on the parliament and member states to resolve the issue “as soon as possible.”

He went on, “Frankly, I don’t give a damn which budget line it comes from as long as the funds are released.

“We are currently being bogged down in bureaucracy over this with questions over whether it should be parliament  or council money.

“For the sake of the hundreds of millions starving in the world, we need to get this aid to Africa and developing countries as soon as possible. I am sure that these starving people do not care which budget line it comes from.”

Parish,  who chairs parliament’s agriculture committee, was speaking after a joint parliamentary meeting between MEPs and French MPs on agriculture policy.

He told a news conference that the two-day event in parliament was “groundbreaking” and had given those involved the chance to discuss the current world food situation.

He said future agricultural policy should help boost production and is not one which is “trade-distorted.”

His comments were echoed by Patrick Ollier, who chairs the economic committee in the French national assembly, who called for “concerted action” to help address world hunger.

Irish MEP Gay Mitchell has shepherded the proposal through parliament but the final decision on the budget line issue has to be taken by the council.

Over the past year, the number of hungry people in the world increased from some 850 million to 925 million, as a direct result of higher food and energy prices.

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