A EU proposal to use unspent EU farm aid to alleviate burdens of spiral food prices on farmers in developing countries was cold-shouldered by the bloc's agriculture ministers who propounded Tuesday that the EU should instead boost long-term aid on agriculture.
"We have to make sure we put agriculture at the top of the international agenda. If there is money available...it might be better to use it for projects structured around several countries," French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier was quoted by the Slovenian Press Agency as saying.
"Solutions are needed, but what is needed even more is a structural approach to this issue," echoed Slovenian Agriculture Minister Iztok Jarc who chairs the informal meeting of EU Agriculture Ministers at Brdo pri Kranju in the suburb of Slovenian capital Ljubljana.
EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel has proposed to use unspent EU subsidies for agriculture to buy seeds and fertilizer for farmers in developing countries.