Subsidiarity versus Solidarity? The example of the European Food Aid Program for the Most Deprived

The creation of a European food aid programme for the most deprived persons (MDP) dates back to 1987, the iciest winter on record in the EEC member states since the 1950s. The member states, equipped with mechanisms associated with the traditional prerogatives of the welfare state, were not prepared to face the re-emergence of food poverty. Jacques Delors, who was the Commission’s president at the time, recalls: “There were some agricultural surpluses. I received appeals from Sœur Emmanuelle and from Coluche. Rather than leaving these surpluses or selling them off on the cheap, I proposed this programme because it was one of the Commission’s areas of authority, but I took the precaution of getting it ratified by the Council of Ministers.” All of the member states subscribed to it on a voluntary basis. In view of the heavy demand that ensued, the programme became permanent. It was based on a dual objective4: one economic – using up agricultural produce surpluses –, the other social – providing food aid for the most deprived.