On 22 July 2020, FEBA organized an Extraordinary EU Working Group and almost 20 participants from 12 Food Banks attended the virtual meeting. The day after the end of the special European Council of 17-21 July 2020 (read the European Council conclusion here), FEBA decided to organise this meeting to take stock of the decisions taken and coordinate next steps at European level for Food Banks.
The meeting started focusing first on the programming period 2014-2020 especially as regards the specific measures on FEAD already entered into force at the end of Apriland the Key recommendations for action in food waste prevention. The goal was to understand the status of art in the different countries in relation to the implementation of the new specific measures of FEAD to address the Covid-19 crisis, and the level of awareness of the recommendations for action released by the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste at the beginning of December 2019.
Consequently, Angela Frigo – FEBA Secretary General – presented to participants the most important points emerged at the European Council in particular in relation to REACT-EU Initiative, the MFF 2021-2027 and the Farm to Fork Strategy.
As is written in the COM (2020) 223 (amending Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 as regards the introduction of specific measures for addressing the COVID-19 crisis) “there is a serious risk that the number of people suffering from food and material deprivation will increase and therefore further action is required in order to respond to the social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure socially fair recovery in line with the European Pillar of Social Rights.”
The objective of this meeting was to give the members of FEBA EU Working Group an overall view on the main challenges of today and tomorrow and to set a common workplan to advocate both at EU and national level for the interests of the European Food Banks in the upcoming months and year.
