EU to cut food aid to 18 million people while spending billion$ on broadband?

[qb]

:wtf:
http://www.startribune.com/world/131849158.html
EU considering massive cuts to food aid program for poor; 18 million people could be hit

BRUSSELS - The European Union is considering a roughly 75 percent cut in funding for a program that helps feed 18 million of its poorest citizens.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2121486
BBC: EU plan to spend billions on boosting broadband speeds

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Let them eat bits & bytes." - EU

doubleplusunsmart

[dkf]

2. They have funds, it's just internal squabbling about the programs.

Which goes to the reason the EU is having a hard time working together.

[pampango]

3. Sounds like the right in Europe has won legal challenges against the food aid program.

The Food for the Deprived program dates back to 1987. At first, it relied heavily on food surpluses from farms that benefited from a bloated and inefficient subsidy regime. But over time, as the farming became more efficient, food was increasingly purchased on the market to keep the program going. In recent years, Germany and other countries have objected to that practice, saying the program is not living up to its original mandate of doing something useful with excess products from farms. Germany won a legal case in April to outlaw the practice of purchasing the food on the market.

The EU's 27 farm ministers will assess the program next Thursday in Luxembourg. On the table is a proposal to keep the program going at euro500 million ($690 million) through legal changes instead of moving to just euro113 million ($155 million), but at present it does not appear it will get a sufficient majority.

The problems involving the program predate the economic and currency crisis that is turning governments throughout the union towards penny-pinching measures, and EU Farm Commissioner Dacian Ciolos has said the problem is purely legal since the budget already has the funds written in.

The Czech Republic is among the countries that object to the current program's approach. Its ambassador to the EU, Milena Vicenova, said that the EU farm policy program "is not the proper and the right instrument to be used for, let's say, social help." She said it also doesn't take national sensitivities into account. "We don't have a common explanation of what a 'poor person' really is or what it really means. Every national scheme slightly differs," Vicenova said.

One of the problems with so many conservative governments (particularly those influenced by strong right wing populist parties) on the continent is the use of "national sovereignty" as a shield against progressive policies of the EU. One reason these rw parties are "eurosceptic" is they don't want to implement these progressive policies.

[nc4bo]

4. Nice. Now people can tweet how hungry they are.

Priorites people!