The European Parliament approved this week the EU Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD). The FEAD will replace the former EU food aid programme (the European food aid programme for the most deprived persons – PEAD), which has been running since 1987, relying on Common Agricultural Policy funds.
For the last 18 months Eurodiaconia has been working together with other NGOs and the European institutions for this fund to exist and we are delighted that there is finally a new programme members can use to run food banks or provide other social inclusion measures for the most vulnerable. Material support is needed in the short term as emergency relief while long term efforts for maximum social inclusion continue. While this approval shows the EU’s commitment to social cohesion and to the fight against poverty, there is still a lot to do before the help reaches the most vulnerable. The FEAD must now be used the need to support those who are the most vulnerable and those who are the furthest away from the labour market.
The Fund’s objective is to enhance social cohesion and therefore ultimately contribute to reaching the “Europe 2020” poverty reduction target. The Fund aims to alleviate the worst forms of poverty, by providing non-financial assistance to the most-deprived persons: food and/or basic material assistance and social inclusion activities aiming at the social integration of the most deprived persons.
If your organisation is interested to use this program, Eurodiaconia strongly encourages you to contact our secretariat as soon as possible for more precise information and/or to directly contact your national government relevant department (it is likely to be the same department as the one managing the ESF).
See Eurodiaconia joint press release (with Caritas Europa, the Red Cross EU office, EAPN and FEANTSA)
Eurodiaconia, Caritas Europa, FEANTSA, the Red Cross EU office and EAPN joint opinion on the EU news platform Euractiv.com