STRASBOURG: The European Commission on Tuesday announced a further 117.25 million euros ($185.5 million) in food aid to the world s most vulnerable to offset the impact of soaring prices.
The rise in basic food prices is a worldwide humanitarian disaster in the making, said EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Ongoing humanitarian food programs are under enormous pressure with less food available for people already on the brink of starvation, he added.
His comments followed an announcement last month of the EU commission s biggest ever food aid package, 160 million euros, which came with a warning that the swiftly rising prices could force it to increase the amount.
Millions more, who were just about coping before, now risk going hungry.
Addressing (the) food price issue is a global challenge requiring long-term solutions but the emergency is now. We have an obligation to act and act quickly, Michel told the assembled MEPs.
Of the latest humanitarian funding, almost half will be taken from the existing food aid budget run by the commission s humanitarian aid department, while 60 million euros in new money has been requested.
Earlier this month the European Commission unveiled an action plan to help combat a worrying drop in EU aid to developing countries and urged member nations to live up to their pledges.
On Friday, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France – which takes over the rotating EU presidency in July – pledged to double the country s emergency food aid in 2008 to 60 million euros ($100 million).
With food prices rising, sparking protests in countries like Haiti and Egypt, the EU s executive body lamented that aid levels provided by the world s biggest donor had dropped last year for the first time since 2000. -AFP
