EU Spending Cuts Could Lead To Food Shortages For Portugal’s Poor: Report
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The European Union’s plan to cut nearly 40 percent of its food aid programs to Portugal could lead to hundreds of thousands of poor people facing severe food shortages, according to a report by Reuters, with nearly 22 percent of the Portuguese already suffering from material deprivation, including almost 9 percent from severe deprivation.
The European Union’s plan to cut nearly 40 percent of its food aid programs to Portugal could lead to hundreds of thousands of poor people facing severe food shortages, according to a report by Reuters, with nearly 22 percent of the Portuguese already suffering from material deprivation, including almost 9 percent from severe deprivation.
Currently, Portugal receives nearly 20 million euros ($27 million) a year in food aid from Brussels under the EU’s “Food for the Needy” program. The scheme though will end by the end of this year and is due to be replaced by the “Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived”. There is however no set deadline for the European Parliament and European Council to agree on the new aid fund.
Isabel Jonet, who heads the Food Banks charity, which supports 390,000 poor people out of Portugal’s 10.5 million population, believes that Portugal is likely to receive 40 percent less in food aid than the current amount and worries that the government has yet to make preparations to handle the shortfall.
[quote]”Unlike in other countries, Portugal does not yet have a plan to make up for the changes or for a delay in the new scheme coming through, so there may be an interruption in our distribution of food,” Jonet told Reuters.[/quote]Related: Spain, Portugal Seek Help From Former Latin America Colonies
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At stake is about a third of the 44 tonnes of food that Portugal’s Food Bank distributes through a network of charities and public partners every day. The rest comes from the food industry and citizens’ donations.
When asked to comment on Jonet’s concerns, Portugal’s Social Affairs Minister Pedro Mota Soares said: “We are working to ensure that the funds are enough to keep such a fundamental project going. Let’s finish the negotiation process in Europe and then we’ll see where we stand.”
According to Reuters, people are considered materially deprived when their income is not enough to meet basic needs like having a meal of fish or meat every other day, pay for rent, or warm their homes. Portugal’s unemployment rate is now at 18 percent, with the minimum wage level at just 566 euros a month, compared to neighbouring Spain’s 753 euros.
[quote]”Requests for help are piling up. We have many new unemployed and members of middle-class families who lost their jobs and now need help,” said Susana Ambrosio, director of the Maria Roque Pereira Foundation.[/quote]Related: No Way Back – Why Europe Is Doomed To Face A ‘Lost Decade’: Dan Steinbock
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Jonathan Todd, a European Commission spokesman for employment and social affairs, confirmed to Reuters that the current “Food for the Needy” program will end this year, though he maintained that its replacement – the “Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived” – would increase resources to make assistance broader than just food.
Todd said that the European Commission envisions the new fund to be co-financed by member states.
