Brussels, June 6 - Europe's farm chief will have to delay her plans for a school fruit scheme as part of a wider campaign to promote healthy eating and combat obesity among children, officials and diplomats said on Wednesday.
Earlier this year, EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel unveiled plans to overhaul the EU's vast fruit and vegetables industry, revising or scrapping many of the annual 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion) of subsidies paid to farmers.
Fischer Boel had wanted to subsidise the distribution of fruit in schools as part of a compromise reform agreement, using the EU's longstanding school milk scheme as a model. EU farm ministers debate the reform plan in Luxembourg early next week.
But it now seems that some of her colleagues in the European Commission have put the brakes on the school fruit scheme, voicing concerns over its potential cost. The Commission, the EU executive, must agree such a plan across its various departments before it can become a proper legal proposal, and policy.
Last month, Fischer Boel said the scheme might require some 100 million euros ($135 million) a year in financing, with up to half the cash to be funded from national EU-27 coffers.
"The (EU agriculture) commissioner is still committed to a fruit and vegetable scheme for schools. But it won't be part of the reform as such," one Commission official said. "We will go away and come back with an impact assessment."
Many EU states, with Denmark leading the way, had informally welcomed Fischer Boel's initiative. But officials said they still expected the Commission to propose a school fruit scheme fairly soon after the conclusion of the reform debate.
Up to 27 percent of European men and 38 percent of women are now regarded as obese. The problem is worst in southern countries, as traditionally healthy Mediterranean diets give way to processed foods rich in fat, sugar and salt -- although Poland and Britain have also seen recent steep rises in child obesity.
Spain, Portugal and Italy report obesity levels above 30 percent in children aged between 7 and 11, the Commission says.
At present, only Greece and Italy reach the World Health Organization's recommendation of an average daily consumption of 400 grams (14 ounces) of fruit and vegetables -- while Britain, Ireland and Sweden have the EU's lowest daily per capita intake.