President. −

Question No 5 by Dimitrios Papadimoulis (H-0358/08)

Subject: World food supply crisis

The soaring prices of staple foods such as wheat, rice, maize, etc. have caused a supply crisis and social unrest in many developing countries, whilst Europe too has seen a dramatic rise in food prices.

In the Council’s view, what are the reasons for the dramatic rise in international prices for staple foods? What measures will it take to encourage the production of staple foods or, possibly, discourage the production of other commodities (e.g. biofuel)?