Food prices are rising and more and more people cannot afford their daily grocery shopping: because of this, the EU Commission proposes "to improve the current food programme for the poor of the EU". According to this initiative, from 2009 "the budget will be raised by two thirds, to approximately 500 million euros", with a wider range of foods. Once bought, such foods would be given to the poor families "through non-profit associations and the local social services". In 2006, over 13 million EU citizens benefited from this food programme. Mariann Fischer Boel, Agriculture Commissioner, explains: "This is a way in which the European Union may effectively help some of the less wealthy people in our society. The recent price rises have been a very hard blow on some people. We must extend this programme and increase the budget, so as to help as many people as possible". The system would change, from using excess foods to buying foods from the market, "according to the dietary preferences of each country".
