Le Parlement Européen s’intéresse aussi au gaspillage alimentaire

(Anglais) The European Parliament on Thursday urged EU countries to cut down on waste by getting supermarkets to give their unsold food to charities, rather than destroy it. Under a resolution regarding the « circular economy », lawmakers in Strasbourg adopted an amendment whereby they « invite the European Commission to encourage the creation, in member-states, of conventions enabling the food retail sector to distribute unsold products to charitable organisations ». « This is a first step in the fight against food waste in Europe, » said Angelique Delahaye, the French member of European Parliament who proposed the amendment. A law has already been introduced in France forcing supermarkets to give leftover food to charity, after a crusade against food waste by local councillor Arash Derambarsh. « We still have to convince those who are recalcitrant. And then the next step is to convince the European Commission, (Commission President) Jean-Claude Juncker, the heads of state in the European Union, » Derambarsh said. The councillor dreams of seeing legislation like France’s adopted at a European level. « We see people are starving with the crisis in Greece, the problems in Portugal, Spain, Italy. We can not continue like this, » he said.