Communication from the Commission to the Council. The role of the European Union in the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) after the Treaty of Lisbon: updated Declaration of Competences and new arrangements between the Council and the Commission for the exercise of membership rights of the EU and its Member States

Since 1991, the European Union, alongside its Member States, has been a Member Organisation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO).

The FAO and the two other Rome-based UN agencies are at the heart of international policy, playing a normative, technical and operational role in areas such as nutrition, agricultural productivity, rural development, global food crisis prevention, transboundary threats, sustainable forest management, fisheries and aquaculture, water and land, animal and plant production and health, capacity development for information and statistics, global standard setting, trade and commodities, development and humanitarian aid; areas that are all central to the EU.

Through its membership of FAO and its strategic partnership agreements with the three Rome-based UN agencies, the EU has demonstrated its willingness to engage in policy dialogue at the highest level. This is complemented by substantial financial contributions to all three organisations. Taken together, these three bodies constitute the principal international policy fora on policy issues in areas of food and agriculture where a strong EU involvement is essential.

The EU is a strong advocate of FAO reform and the reform of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), an intergovernmental body set up by FAO to review and follow-up policies on world food security, supporting financially and politically both reform processes.

Between 2006 and 2011, an average of over €1 billion was allocated every year for rural development, territorial planning, agriculture and food security. Sustainable agriculture and food and nutrition security are at the top of the EU's long-term development cooperation agenda and are an important aspect of our dialogue with partner governments and international organisations such as the FAO. At the same time, addressing emergency food and nutrition needs is a priority for the EU.

Therefore at policy level, it is essential that the EU engages more effectively with the FAO. As the world's largest donor to food security, the EU has a critical role to play in responding to the challenges to global food security.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)333: Follow the progress of this communication through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:333:FIN

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