NGOs urge EU not to abandon flagship sustainable food systems law

Civil society groups and academics have urged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to push ahead with the proposal for an EU legislative framework for sustainable food systems amid concerns its fate hangs in the balance. 

The law, which is a key element of the EU’s flagship Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy and a central pillar of the Green Deal, aims to accelerate and facilitate the transition to sustainable food systems.

With 70% of soils across the bloc in an unhealthy state, a drastic decline in European biodiversity, and the EU facing an obesity epidemic, mounting scientific evidence points to the urgency of transforming food systems to become more sustainable and healthier.

While the proposal of the law was scheduled for the third quarter of this year, between EU elections looming and mounting pushback against the EU’s green policies, it is currently touch and go whether it will be presented before the end of this Commission’s mandate in October 2024. 

“Failing to publish this law will mean failing to deliver on the EU’s climate, environment and health goals,” the 160 signatories, which include the likes of the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and Compassion in World Farming EU, stressed.

This is because food businesses, retailers, farmers, consumers and policymakers need the law as an “enabling policy framework to empower them to play their part in the transition of the agri-food sector, which is critical to the achievement of the EU’s climate objectives,” they set out. 

EU's upcoming food systems law is taking a 'dangerous' turn, NGOs warn

Campaign groups have warned that the EU’s sustainable food law risks going off course as conversations turn to food security and the strengthening of the internal market – something the Commission has defended, insisting this is a key pillar of the law.

For Giulia Riedo, agriculture and sustainable food policy officer of the WWF European policy office, a failure to publish the proposal would mean people continue to be pushed into unhealthy and unsustainable eating. 

“EU citizens are getting sick because of their diets. Meanwhile, EU agricultural production is slashed by heat waves, droughts and floods, fuelled by the way we produce and consume food – and there are still reservations about changing the food system?” she said.

As such, the signatories urge President von der Leyen to “stand by [her] commitment to an environmentally and animal-friendly, fair and healthy food system and present an ambitious FSFS proposal as soon as possible”. 

“We urge you to resist misguided and short-sighted calls for a regulatory pause in the Commission’s green agenda and to move ahead as planned with the publication of the FSFS proposal,” the letter reads.

This is not the first time that NGOs have rung the alarm bell over the law.

Back in June, campaign groups warned that the EU’s sustainable food law risks going off course as conversations turn to food security and the strengthening of the internal market.

An original leak of the impact assessment ahead of the proposal put a focus on mandatory requirements for sustainable public procurement, as well as on voluntary harmonised sustainability labelling systems.

This is something the European Commission has defended, insisting this is a key pillar of the law and that it continues to be a key priority of this mandate.

EU food systems law proposal hits first stumbling block

The impact assessment on the proposal future framework for sustainable food systems (FSFS) has failed to win approval from the Commission’s quality control board, according to sources, although this is not expected to delay the presentation of the proposal. 

[Edited by Gerardo Fortuna]

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