FoodDrinkEurope has launched a campaign identifying 5 key areas for policymakers to address ahead of the 2024 European Parliament elections which will be held on 6 to 9 June 2024.
The 5 asks were launched today during FoodDrinkEurope’s #FoodFuture Ideas Fest and Summer Party, which is bringing more than 1000 stakeholders together to discuss the future of food.
The document is a further articulation of FoodDrinkEurope’s call for an EU Food Investment and Resilience Plan, raised earlier this year to support the agri-food sector in delivering on the Green Deal targets, while maintaining industry competitiveness.
Marco Settembri, FoodDrinkEurope President, said: “The European food and drink industry remains very supportive of the European Green Deal and Farm to Fork, but if we really want to scale-up the transition in the agri-food sector, it needs to be backed up with enabling conditions to make it a success. As those are largely absent in the current policy setting, we see a huge opportunity for a reflection process now, ahead of the EU elections, about how to strengthen the pathway forward with a Farm to Fork 2.0.”
Dirk Jacobs, FoodDrinkEurope Director General, added: “There is a huge investment gap in the agri-food sector, particularly in relation to the transition to sustainable agriculture. Public and private financing need to come together and be applied strategically into agri-food. This is not only about money, but also about policies that incentivise and help farmers and producers rather than stifle progress. A strong EU agri-food sector is not only important for Europe’s economy and global competitiveness, but also critical for delivering on global climate ambitions of the EU.”
Over the coming months, FoodDrinkEurope will engage in conversations with food chain partners, policymakers and other food systems actors to hear their views and elaborate each of the 5 policymaker asks.
In parallel, FoodDrinkEurope also published its updated Action Plan for Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems today. Launched one year ago, the Action Plan is FoodDrinkEurope’s proactive work programme to help the food and drink sector move toward sustainable food production through concrete actions, toolkits and thought leadership. It forms part of FoodDrinkEurope’s commitment to the EU Code of Conduct for Responsible Food Business and Marketing Practices, which celebrates its second anniversary on 5 July.
