The European Commission announced that the Single CMO Management Committee voted to allocate €500 million from the EU funds for the 2013 Food for the Most Deprived programme. This will be the last year that the scheme will run in this form, funded from the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP).

The Single CMO Management Committee decided the allocation of EU funds for the 2013 Food for the Most Deprived programme. More than 18 million people in 19 EU Member States will benefit from the €500 million budget available for the most deprived. In February 2012, it was agreed two more years for the food programme for the EU's most deprived citizens.

This will be the last year that the scheme will run in this form, funded from the CAP. As regards the future of the scheme, in its proposal for the Multiannual Financial Framework for the period 2014-2020, the Commission has proposed to provide a budget of €2.5 billion for the 7 year period to continue financing EU assistance for the most deprived under Heading I of the EU budget, where it fits more appropriately with the poverty reduction target of the Europe 2020 strategy.

Since December 1987, the EU’s “Food Distribution programme for the Most Deprived Persons of the Community” has been in place, when the Council adopted the rules for releasing public intervention stocks of agricultural products to Member States wishing to use them as food aid for the most deprived persons in the EU. Over the years, the scheme has become an important source of provisions for organisations working in direct contact with the least fortunate people in our society.