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Subsidiarity Assessment: Food Distribution (EUC Report)

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Roper, and the EU Committee for giving us the opportunity to debate this matter this evening, and indeed to the noble Lord, Lord Carter of Coles, for introducing our debate and for chairing the committee. Its report is welcome. This debate has been opportune and I am able to update noble Lords on meetings as recent as today. Let me make it quite clear at the outset that the Government continue to share the committee’s view that the Commission’s latest proposal is not consistent with the subsidiarity principle. In that position it is supported not only by the committee but by all speakers in our debate this evening, so many of whom, I am pleased to see, are members of the committee. I know that your Lordships are well aware of the background to this scheme, and the noble Lord, Lord Williamson, pointed out that we had debated this topic as recently as last November. When the scheme was first introduced in 1987, it was used as a mechanism to derive benefit from the growing intervention stocks and to save European embarrassment in running down these stockpiles. I point out to my noble friend Lady Byford that the 18 million people who benefited from these stockpiles came mainly from the following list of countries. In the 2012 allocation, the countries were: Spain, €18 million; France, €15 million; Italy, €22 million; Poland, €17 million; and Romania, €12 million. In fact, all member states participate, other than Denmark, Germany, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and the UK. In the current context, this scheme no longer has a basis in the intervention stocks because they are significantly reduced to the point at which they are more or less insignificant. As a result of an increasing focus on purchasing products on the open market, the Commission has had to provide new proposals to adapt the scheme. I am unable to say how many civil servants have been engaged in this exercise, but I shall do my best to ascertain the number, although it may be difficult to satisfy noble Lords on that point. Several recent proposals have failed to achieve a qualified majority in favour within the Council. Yet we have before us another proposal. Perhaps I may say to my noble friend Lord Caithness that the noble Lord, Lord Grantchester, is absolutely right to say that under the Lisbon treaty certain criteria must be met. The proposal depends on the number of reasoned opinions received. One-third of votes are required from Parliaments that consider that the proposal is not compliant with the principle of subsidiarity—a so-called yellow card—or more than half the votes in the Council must consider that the proposal is not compliant. Based on the response to the 2010 proposal, neither of those conditions was met. Therefore, our reasoned amendment is not without force or consequence, but the Commission has been unnecessarily determined to push its proposal despite our criticism and reason for it. What is specific about this latest proposal? One key development earlier this year was a judgment in the Court of Justice of the EU on the provisions of the 2009 distribution scheme that provided for purchases on the open market. In the court’s view, the existing regulation did not provide an adequate legal base for the purchase of food on the market other than on an exceptional basis when intervention stocks are temporarily unavailable. This ruling has had an immediate impact on the operation of the scheme by limiting the budget for 2012 to approximately €113 million. On current projections, there will be no intervention stocks to supply the programme in 2013. Against this background, the Commission has made a further amended proposal that reflects the Commission’s attempts to justify the provisions for the sourcing of food from the market as a matter of course, rather than on an exceptional basis—as was the case in the past. The Commission has indicated that it intends this proposal to be a transitional measure to ensure the continuation of the existing programme until the end of the current multiannual financial framework in 2013. The Commission is expected to come forward with further proposals for a food distribution scheme for deprived people to be funded solely by the European Social Fund from 2014, under heading 1 of the EU budget. Nevertheless, the Government’s view has not changed. We remain unconvinced as to the merits or appropriateness of this proposal. The Commission’s attempt to make use of social cohesion as a legal base confirms our view that the scheme is no longer an agricultural measure but one which has a fundamental social principle behind it. My noble friend Lord Caithness will know that the Government share his view of the behaviour of the Commission in this matter. As several noble Lords including the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, pointed out, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity there is a long-standing general principle of union law, currently enshrined in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union, that the Government consider the EU should act collectively only where there are clear additional benefits or EU added value compared with action by member states either individually or in co-operation. We consider that such measures to assist the neediest members of society can be better and more effectively delivered by individual member states through their own social programmes and not at EU level. As noble Lords will know, we have a Healthy Start programme here in this country. It is the member states and their regional and local authorities that are best placed to identify and meet the needs of deprived people in their countries and communities, and to do this in ways that are administratively simple and efficient. The proposal has long been discussed in Council and the UK, along with a number of other member states. We maintained our opposition to the scheme on the grounds that social measures are a matter for individual member states, and therefore the proposal is not in line with the principle of subsidiarity. However, in the margins of the Agriculture Council’s meeting on 14 November, following French and German bilateral discussions to which my noble friend Lord Caithness has drawn our attention, the German Minister indicated that she could accept a time-limited extension of the scheme until the end of 2013 provided there was a guarantee that funding would not continue into the next financial perspective. During discussions in the special committee on agriculture earlier today, it was clear that Germany had not received the assurances it was looking for from the Commission in not coming forward for new proposals for a similar programme in the future, and as such I can say that the qualified majority in favour does not yet exist. The Government will consider their position, as they should in light of any proposed compromise, but they will continue to oppose the principle of expenditure on social measures of this kind being funded from the EU budget. Clearly, as my noble friend Lady Sharp pointed out, it is important that all our citizens have enough food to eat and supporting them through these difficult times is no doubt a matter of some priority for each member state. In the UK, the Healthy Start scheme, for example, provides a nutritional safety net in the form of vouchers for basic healthy foods and free vitamin supplements for pregnant women and children under four in disadvantaged and low-income families. Also, as many noble Lords will know, FareShare and FoodCycle provide good examples of the essential work that charities are doing to support communities to relieve food poverty. In 2010-11, the food distributed by FareShare contributed towards 8.6 million meals, with the number of people being fed daily averaging 35,500. The point remains, that ensuring the availability of adequate food for the most deprived citizens is an activity not best undertaken at EU level, nor in our view an appropriate use of the EU budget, as the noble Lord, Lord Williamson, said. I hope this helps your Lordships in completing your scrutiny of this proposal. I suspect noble Lords will want to remain on continuous alert where this proposal is concerned but I thank the committee for its report, and the Government support the Motion on the reasoned opinion. Motion agreed.