EU food aid cuts to hit Portuguese poor

Portugal is likely to lose 40% of the €20 million in food aid it gets from Brussels every year, according to Isabel Jonet, who heads the Food Banks charity.

Her institution supports 390,000 poor people out of Portugal's 10.5 million population. They have been helped by the EU's "Food for the Needy" program which is due to be replaced by the Fund for European Aid.

The new fund will have fewer resources for food, Jonet said. And the cash-strapped government has made no preparations to deal with the problem, she added.