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Free food for Europe's poor

Impact Assessment

As intervention stocks are likely to remain low for the foreseeable future, the Commission launched an Impact Assessment of the Most Deprived food aid programme in early 2008, with the aim of examining options for the scheme's future. The advice, views and contributions of everyone concerned by the programme were sought in the course of the review.

The aim of the Impact Assessment process was, first, to identify the problem that is being addressed and the policy objectives, and then to identify options for achieving those objectives and analyse their likely economic, environmental and social impact. It describes the advantages and disadvantages of each option and examines possible synergies and trade-offs.

To carry out the work, the relevant Commission services were all invited to take part in the Impact assessment process, in an Inter-service Steering Group (ISG) chaired by the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development.

The work was planned in advance and set out in a roadmap [pdf]. A proposal for the future of the Most Deprived food aid programme was put forward on 17 September 2008.

The Impact Assessment is available [pdf] in: