Abstract
Unfortunately, food bank use is on the rise in many European member states. At the same time, poverty among the working age population is increasing in many countries while evidence points to an almost universal inadequacy of social protection systems. Interestingly, Europe provides food assistance via the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD), making it a unique instrument of transnational interpersonal income redistribution. Against this background, questions can be raised about the balance between rights-based social protection and benevolent social action and the role of Europe herein. Concretely, this proposal will focus on food aid, FEAD and minimum income protection, in an attempt to gain better understanding in the relationship between the functioning of welfare states to provide adequate social safety nets on the one hand and benevolent social action in Europe on the other. First, taking a cross-European comparative approach, food bank data regarding the budgets, number of recipients, etc. will be analyzed and linked to indicators of welfare state efforts and social performances. Furthermore, we will study the profiles of food aid beneficiaries to explore their relationship with minimum income protection schemes. Lastly, estimating the financial value of food packages will allow us to examine to what extent food aid compensates for inadequate minimum incomes.
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