The Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived: A Trojan horse dilemma?

Abstract

AbstractAlthough the ‘Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived’ (FEAD) is a peripheral financing instrument with respect to European cohesion policy, it is a concrete case of a redistributive and highly targeted European anti‐poverty programme. In this sense, it is a unique supranational instrument providing social protection to European citizens, playing on the necessity of food aid in most European Union (EU) countries. With this in mind, we shed light on the Fund's budgetary scope in relation to national welfare state efforts. Also, we argue that there is some indication that FEAD could potentially contribute to shifting responsibilities from the national to the European level. For a better understanding of this phenomenon, we draw parallels to the case of the United States' Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program. We conclude that FEAD bears resemblance to a contemporary ‘Trojan horse’: it is welcomed by the Member States as a deceptively innocent EU gift but it might in the long run support the role of the EU as an agent that plugs gaps within national social protection schemes.