Brussels, June 21 (Agency) The European Commission proposes to disburse 600 million euros (633 million US dollars) on top of existing EU support to help regions hit by the current food crisis, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday. “To help our partners we will mobilize an additional 600 million euros (633 million dollars) to avoid a food crisis and an economic shock,” she said at the 2022 European Development Days. The money will come from the European Development Fund, and will be used to support African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to counter the looming food crisis.
The countries will receive 150 million euros (158 million dollars) for humanitarian assistance, 350 million euros (369 million dollars) for sustainable production and resilience of food systems, and 100 million euros (105 million dollars) in macro-economic support. This comes on top of an existing package of the EU’s 3 billion euros (3.16 billion dollars) for global food security, tweeted von der Leyen. Investments in food production and resilience of food systems are especially important, said von der Leyen.