See you in early December for the first meeting of this new committee. The government announced on Tuesday evening the creation of the first national committee to combat food insecurity linking several ministries, local authorities and associations to coordinate aid to vulnerable populations affected by the health crisis linked to the coronavirus epidemic.
The informal forum will meet regularly under the auspices of the Directorate General for Social Cohesion, an inter-ministerial department overseeing the care of vulnerable populations, in order to “create a space for sustainable dialogue between the actors in the fight against food insecurity, to draw up a shared state of affairs and to reflect the experience of the Covid-19 crisis” The government said in a statement Tuesday night.
The committee was created in the presence ofOlivier Véran,Minister of Solidarity and Health, Julien Denormandie, Minister of Agriculture and Food and Emmanuelle Wargon, Minister of Housing.
30 million euros for the “fresh baskets” operation
The three ministers recalled that the recovery plan included several measures of solidarity in the face of the crisis: Olivier Véran highlighted a support plan of 100 million euros for anti-poverty associations, in the form of a call for projects that will include a national and a territorial component.
The Ministry of Agriculture will spend 30 million euros in the recovery plan on an operation called “fresh baskets” aimed at making local food products accessible to vulnerable populations, at the departmental level, through public subsidies.
Emmanuelle Wargon said that her ministry would spend 10 million euros, also from the recovery plan, for the creation of “solidarity kitchens” in third places for people with large exclusion, especially those staying at the hotel.
275 million euros for food aid
In total in 2020, the French state will have spent 275 million euros on food aid, much of it on an exceptional basis due to the Covid-19 crisis. In 2019, comparable budgets amounted to 114.5 million euros.
This summer, an extension of 55 million euros was released for “service tickets” allowing homeless people or households weakened by the health crisis to buy basic necessities.
