MEP David Casa has been appointed European Peoples Party group rapporteur for the change in regulations to make it easier to use aid to help Europe's most deprived.

The aid, through FEAD - the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived - is to better assist those severely impacted by COVID-19. 

Reacting to the appointment, Casa said that even before the pandemic, a number of people across Europe were deprived of basic essentials, such as food or clothing.

The economic slowdown caused by the pandemic would lead to more such situations. 

“This is a reality which we must address immediately,” he said.

FEAD is one of the EU’s important tools in providing aid, such as food, clothing, sanitary supplies and more to the most vulnerable.

Member states are free to choose the type of assistance provided, which is then approved by the European Commission.

In Malta, these funds are used to provide food packages to certain families with material deprivation. The change in the regulations which Casa will be negotiating will increase such resources for this year and the upcoming two years.  

“Recently, we saw the European Commission speaking about its proposal of €750 billion to ensure a sustainable, inclusive and fair recovery from COVID-19.

All this is well and good - but individuals who cannot afford to buy food or clothes are not interested in the billions proposed by the Commission, but in tools which can improve their quality of life today,” Casa said.

Casa is also Parliament’s rapporteur on the European Social Fund Plus and is currently negotiating with the Council of Ministers to ensure this new fund is up and running by the beginning of 2021.

FEAD is one of the financial tools which forms part of the European Social Fund Plus, which brings together also the Youth Employment Initiative as well as the EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation.