JOINT PRESS RELEASE EUROPEAN FOOD AID AND SECOURS POPULAIRE FRANCAIS

USPA NEWS - After the announcement of this envelope, up 48% compared to the previous fiscal year 2014 to 2020, comes in addition to a considerable increase in the budget allocated to food aid by France, in order to support associations which have faced a very high demand due to the COVID-19 crisis and the recent meeting of Secours Populaire Francais with French Minister of Solidarity and Health, Olivier Veran, and Clement Beaune, Secretary of State for European Affairs, on 3 November, as they all welcomed the increase in funds allocated to food aid in France by the European Union for the years 2021 to 2027.
We publish the Joint press release European food aid: associations welcome announcements which constitute a major step forward in tackling the social crisis Our associations, fully mobilized for years to defend the European Fund for Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD), an irreplaceable instrument in the fight against poverty in Europe, were heard by the European Union and the Government.

The announcements of this November 3, make it possible to safeguard a food aid policy for the next seven years at the level of Europe, and to devote in France means greater than the previous budget, while there are months still loomed a threat of drastic reduction in these funds. The European recovery plan, which will support this structural policy, is also a salutary response that we were calling for. Representing a third of the food aid delivered in France, FEAD has demonstrated, especially in recent months, how irreplaceable it is. The hundreds of thousands of volunteers from our associations have been able to bring it to life with seriousness and efficiency to help the most vulnerable people. From now on, it is up to the Government to mobilize all the necessary means so that this next food aid program is adapted and simplified in its implementation, and makes it possible to offer a greater qualitative diversity of food products to the most deprived people. However, needs are constantly increasing as new social categories, so far spared, are falling into precariousness. Hundreds of thousands of people have gone from a critical situation to a catastrophic situation. The social crisis we face will be long and difficult. These new financial supports provide an essential first response, but it will be necessary to strengthen. The associations will need the support and generosity of all to continue to face the worsening of insecurity and poverty in the coming months and to continue their actions to support people towards autonomy. Source : Secours Populaire Francais