Brussels, 10/09/08: At a hearing in the European Parliament today, the European Commission’s proposal of creating a ‘food facility” of 1 billion Euros for developing countries by using funds from the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) was discussed. The hearing took place in the Committee on Development and included representatives from the WB, FAO and WFP who had been invited to debate the necessity and the problems of the proposal. The majority welcomed the proposal and stressed the need to avoid lengthy administration procedures in order to commit the funds by the end of the year. Some MEPs stated that the principles of transparency and accountability should not be sacrificed and emphasised that there were still some difficult technical obstacles to be over come and some reluctant member states to be won over.