Samenvatting

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) leads international efforts to defeat hunger and malnutrition. On 26 November 1991 the European Union became the 161st Member of FAO, trough Resolution 7/91 which allowed Regional Economic Integration Organisations (REIOs) to accede as members.

EU interest in FAO membership was prompted by the Organisations normative role on matters concerning agriculture, fisheries, health and consumer protection, as well as trade related issues. Furthermore, the FAO viewed EU membership as complementary to that of the member states (which are all member nations to FAO). It is interesting to note the rush of the accession process which came mostly from within the EU. Since FAO has its headquarters in Italy, this particular EU Member State saw the accession as beneficiary to its own international character as well as economy and employment rates. The EU was mainly concerned with their own vested interest, through accession to FAO it would gain more influence within the Organisation which allowed them to successfully argue the multifunctionality of agriculture and thus the further liberalisation of world trade.

When looking at the current EU-FAO cooperation framework, a member organisation has the right to participate in matters within its competence in any meeting of the Organisation. Although in general a member organisation is entitled to participate in any meeting in which any of its member states are entitled to participate, they are excluded to participate in any meeting of the Programme and Finance Committee and other governing bodies sessions. This consequently denies the EU to directly influence the Organisations Programme of Work and Budget.

In principle the EU does not contribute to the regular programme budget like other member nations, but is requested to pay the Organisation a sum to cover administrative and other expenses arising from its membership. Besides these administrative costs the EU contribute to FAO through the so-called extra-budgetary funds (or Trust Funds), of which the EU is the largest donor today. In 2006 the EU contribution to the Organisation amounted in more than US$ 40 million (see Table 1 - Appendix VII). Beside the contribution of the EU to FAO, all EU member states pay full contribution to the FAO budget. In my opinion the yearly financial contribution plus the administrative costs of the EU are not comparable to the Organisations results. It can be questioned whether the EU would not achieve more if it focused on its own projects.
Preceding each FAO Session an internal arrangement covering the division of power between the EU and its member states has to be created. This division is made according to each agenda item of that specific session. An item can be of EU competence, member state competence or mixed competence. The fact that both the EU and its member states are members of FAO is quite confusing. When matters discussed are of EU competence the EU negotiates and votes. The EU member states exercise competence only on a few issues which have not been delegated to the EU, such as the election of the FAO Director-General. When a matter is of mixed competence, usually the country holding EU Presidency takes the floor and delivers a common European Statement. Such a statement is produced within the so-called AGRI/FAO Council Working Group, with which EU member states and the EU Commission meet in Brussels at least once a month. It can be said that the importance of the individual EU member state within FAO has declined since the EU became a member of the Organisation. Statements are prepared in the coordination meeting in Brussels and the internal EU decision-making process has not changed since the enlargement of the EU to 27 member states. It can be argued that small countries like the Netherlands are granted a voice in the elaboration of the EU Statement which, because of its size, it might not have had otherwise. It is difficult to examine the actual EU influence over its member states, the division of competences is quite complex and in the process of preparing a European Statement concessions will need to be made concerning national interest. It can be argued that they might be more successful if either the EU or its member states gained more competence; this would eliminate the mixed competence factor and thus a lot of bureaucracy.

Since the EU and FAO are under criticism due to ineffectiveness of both organisations, in my opinion it will be necessary to undergo certain transformations. The EU will need to alter its decision-making process internally, which will allow the EU to deliver a more comprehensible and stronger European Statement. Furthermore, the internal organisation of FAO will need to undergo further reforms in order to eliminate most of the Organisations bureaucracy and thus will be able to perform better in fulfilling its mission.