§ Mr. SpearingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the approximate annual expenditure of the European Community on(a) food aid of an emergency character and (b) other food aid, in ecu and pound sterling, together with an estimate of the additional costs that would need to be carried by FEOGA for either category, if not funded under the Community aid budget.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydIn 1991, the total cost to the Community aid budget of food aid for developing countries, including transport costs, was 590 mecu (£413 million). An accurate breakdown of costs between emergency and other food aid is not possible because of problems of definition but, in cost terms, approximately half of the programme went to five African countries severely affected by drought or civil strife: Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Somalia and Sudan.
In addition, according to the Commission, food aid to the value of 259 mecu (£181 million) was provided for Eastern Europe, including the former Soviet Union, funded mainly from FEOGA.
The transfer of part or all of the cost of food aid for developing countries from the aid budget to FEOGA would result in an increase in FEOGA costs of approximately the same size as the decrease in cost to the Community aid budget. Such a transfer would tend to re-establish the links between surplus disposal and food aid which successive British Governments have sought to break.