Miller Magazine Issue: 151 July 2022

30 MILLER / JULY 2022 NEWS The European Commission adopted a proposal to mobilise €600 million from the reserves of the European Development Fund to address the current food security crisis aggravated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. These funds will support African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to cope with the dire situation, through humanitarian assistance (€150 million), sustainable production and resilience of food systems (€350 million) and macro-economic support (€100 million). Announcing the new support measure at the 2022 European Development Days in Brussels, President of the European Com- mission, Ursula von der Leyen, said: “Russia's war of aggression is taking a heavy and senseless toll, not only on the Ukrainian population, but also those most vulnerable around the world. Russia is still blocking millions of tonnes of desperately needed grain. To help our partners we will mobilise an additional 600 million euros to avoid a food crisis and an economic shock.” Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, said: “Solidarity is at the core of our European Union values. The most vulnerable are facing tremendous suffering with a wors- ened food crisis following Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. With these additional €600 million, we will strengthen our support to address the crisis, while contributing to sustain- able and resilient food systems.” The Commission proposes to direct the €600 million mobil- ised from the European Development Fund reserves to support the most affected African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. This will address different dimensions of the crisis by sustaining: •Humanitarian assistance: €150 million for cash assistance whenever appropriate and where possible, support through ex- isting social protection and safety nets mechanisms. •Food production and resilience of food systems: €350 mil- lion in the medium to long term to support investments in sus- tainable production to underpin more resilient food systems, including social sustainability (youth and women). •Macro-economic support: €100 million for the Poverty Re- duction and Growth Trust (PGRT) of the IMF, which will facilitate support to affected countries. EU support to the PRGT is part of a Team Europe approach and the additional contribution is expected to incentivise other donors to contribute as well. These €600 million to contribute to the EU Global Food Se- curity Response to help tackle the food crisis, comes on top on top of already mobilised humanitarian assistance worldwide, and funds from NDICI-Global Europe earmarked for projects on sustainable agriculture, basic nutrition, water and sanitation, and social safety protection, amounting to over €2 billion in Sub-Sa- haran Africa and another €1 billion for the Southern Neighbour- hood partners, that complement the EU's Food and Resilience Facility worth €225 million in support of this region. Another €960 million are foreseen under NDICI-Global Europe for Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia until 2024. Even before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, close to 193 million people across 53 countries and territories were acutely food in- secure and in need of urgent assistance. Russia's attack is dra- matically worsening the situation. The EU has reacted with a series of strategic decisions. In its 23 March communication on food security, the European Com- mission reaffirmed its firm commitment to fight global food inse- curity, together with its partners. EU pledges €600 million to Africa and Caribbean to address food crisis